Virtual power plant from solar systems and electric cars
Helion Energy is building a virtual power plant from thousands of small private solar systems, home batteries and electric cars. The decentralised large-scale power plant of the AMAG subsidiary is intended to supply energy for the balancing energy market. A test phase is currently underway with Swissgrid AG.
“Switzerland’s first virtual power plant for private customers is live” is the title of a post by Helion Energy AG on LinkedIn. The energy company, which will be acquired by the AMAG Group in 2022, wants to combine thousands of small privately owned energy sources into an intelligent virtual power plant. The individual solar systems, home batteries and electric cars will be networked by the Helion ONE platform.
“Just a third of today’s PV systems could replace a pumped storage power plant,” writes Helion Energy. The plan is to use the decentralised large-scale power plant in the balancing energy market to stabilise the electricity grid. The grid is currently being tested for this purpose in collaboration with Swissgrid AG.
Private households that participate in the virtual power plant can benefit from earnings of between 200 and 300 francs per year. For SMEs, the amount is currently over CHF 1,000 and rising, according to the article. Helion wants to enable other interested parties to participate in the decentralised large-scale power plant before the end of this year.