{"id":1004317463,"date":"2019-04-18T08:46:38","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T16:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?p=1004317463"},"modified":"2019-04-18T08:46:38","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T16:46:38","slug":"californias-record-setting-virtual-power-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/californias-record-setting-virtual-power-plant\/","title":{"rendered":"California’s Record-Setting Virtual Power Plant"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Photo courtesy of The Irvine Co.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

In its first year of operation, a record-setting virtual power plant in California has delivered more than 2 gigawatt-hours to the grid. The VPP is part of massive grid modernization undertaken by Southern California Edison, which provides power to 15 million people across a 50,000-square-mile swath of the state.<\/p>\n

Designed and operated by AMS and owned by Macquarie Capital, the virtual power plant is tasked to reduce peak demand in the Los Angeles Basin by installing battery storage systems behind the meter at properties of SCE’s commercial customers. The project’s first phase (11 megawatts\/60 megawatt-hours) went into operation last year.<\/p>\n

Since then, the system has delivered more than 2 gigawatt-hours of capacity services to the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), demolishing records for distributed energy storage. In addition to providing grid services, the project also generated more than $1 million in savings to SCE customers. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Shifting Sources<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The story began five years ago, when the SCE selected AMS to produce a VPP, said Manal Yamout, AMS’ senior vice president for external affairs. AMS forged working relationships with the Irvine Co. and Wal-Mart, as well as water agencies, hospitals and the California State University system. AMS transforms its customers\u2019 buildings into hybrid electric buildings, using batteries that are plugged into the buildings themselves and connected to the grid.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The Irvine Co.\u2019s commercial building network. Photo courtesy of The Irvine Co.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIn the evening, when there is plentiful energy at low cost, we fill up that battery. In the daytime when demand charges are high, we take a portion of the building\u2019s electric load off the grid and onto the battery<\/em>,\u201d she said. The process is accomplished through an automated platform that Yamout compared to the software in a hybrid car that alternates between gas and electric power. <\/p>\n

The first phase of the project includes a fleet of 21 state-of-the-art hybrid buildings owned by the Irvine Co. \u201cWe give Irvine Co. <\/em>the software<\/em><\/a> to monitor its energy bill savings, its energy usage, the wholesale market price and its emission profiles, and it can compare all their buildings to each other<\/em>,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

AMS also signs service contracts with Irvine Companies and others to guarantee bill savings over a 10-year period. The companies don’t pay for the battery system. Instead, AMS pays for, owns, operates and installs the system and guarantees the host customer specified savings. \u201cWe monetize part of the savings they achieve<\/em>,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Working in harmony<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In addition, AMS aggregates scores of buildings in a geographic area, all with their own batteries, and places software on top of the systems already in place. \u201cWe give the local utility the right to dispatch the entire set of buildings<\/em>,\u201d Yamout said. Edison sends out a signal remotely. When that signal is received, AMS can take multiple buildings off the grid and and switch them to separate batteries. The utility instantly registers a drop in demand, but the host customer feels no difference. “That’s what the virtual power plant is,”<\/em> Yamout said. “We aggregate a number of buildings, and then work with the utility to dispatch those buildings in harmony to meet the needs of the electric grid.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

The host customers do not benefit directly from the VPP. Instead, they benefit from their own buildings’ batteries, and contribute to the efficiency of the overall electric grid. Host customers also gain a lower energy bill by using battery-stored energy, and the utility gains local capacity to serve the needs of the overall market. <\/p>\n

The fact that AMS finances, builds, develops and operates the system \u201cinvolves meeting the needs of the individual building owners and the utility at the same time,\u201d <\/em>Yamout said. \u201cThat’s where the magic of the software comes in.<\/em>\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Launched last year via an Irvine Co. office portfolio, the initiative has saved utility customers $1 million to date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":450,"featured_media":1004317472,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21785,21786],"tags":[33749,45254],"class_list":["post-1004317463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property-management","category-sustainability","tag-irvine-company","tag-macquarie-capital"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCalifornia's Record-Setting Virtual Power Plant - Commercial Property Executive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/californias-record-setting-virtual-power-plant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"California's Record-Setting Virtual Power Plant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Launched last year via an Irvine Co. office portfolio, the initiative has saved utility customers $1 million to date.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/californias-record-setting-virtual-power-plant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Property Executive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CPExecutive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-04-18T16:46:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2019\/04\/Irvine-Co.-building-network-e1555533238288.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"619\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeffrey Steele\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/californias-record-setting-virtual-power-plant\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/californias-record-setting-virtual-power-plant\/\",\"name\":\"California's Record-Setting Virtual Power Plant - 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