CoPower

Community Based Virtual Power Plant

The goal is to leverage information technology and smart grid infrastructure to empower local communities to collectively generate, store, and manage their energy requirements.

The ambition is to integrate distributed energy resources, and use data analysis and Artificial Intelligence, to balance energy demand and production intelligently and dynamically.

The result will be new community-driven opportunities to digitalise, decarbonise and decentralise local energy systems.

The aim is to develop a community-based Virtual Power Plant (cVPP) and a viable business model to support it in 5 communities of Finland, Iceland, Ireland and Faroe Islands. The common challenges are lack of affordable, reliable, and efficient energy supply due to peripherality, low population density, cold climate, accessibility issues and over-reliance on fossil fuel. The opportunities are the significant renewable resource potential in partner areas and new possibilities in future dynamic energy markets.

The overall objective is to use transnational cooperation to exploit information technologies to link multiple small energy systems and operate them in coordination like a utility-scale power station to balance electricity demand and production.

The main changes will be new community roles in the energy system, decreased local consumption of fossil-based energy, energy independence, local energy trade and reduced electricity bills.

The main output is a cVPP model for deployment in a typical NPA community with 5 distributed energy resource (DER) solutions applied and an online demonstration service. The approach is based on integrating the collective power of different DERs and using data analysis and Artificial Intelligence within the cVPP, to intelligently and dynamically manage energy use based on demand, environmental factors and cost.

A transnational approach is needed to bring ICT and energy expertise together to collectively develop a robust transboundary solution that can be implemented in differing conditions. The project brings together the Lead Partners from 3 NPA projects (SMARCTIC, h-CHP and LECo), who combined their complementary skillsets within a clustering project (GREENER) and includes 3 other partners and 15 Associate Partners who bring additional skills, knowledge and geographic reach.

The approach is original because it creates new community-driven opportunities to digitalise, decarbonise and decentralise local energy systems.