Rotterdam turned 15,000 EV chargers into a virtual power plant | Hacker News Reader

Rotterdam turned 15,000 EV chargers into a virtual power plant

lastmilesolutions.com

5 pointsmooreds9 comments

Calling it a "virtual power plant" is probably one the most weirdest spin/intentionally misleading euphemism I've seen in a long time.

A better term would be "managed brownouts" or "rolling brownouts to chargers". They are just reducing services to EV chargers when demand is exceedingly supply to try to avoid impacting other things.

Demand response is a well worn path for grid management. Not all loads are critical or must run, and shedding/orchestrating load is just as valid as potentially generating additional marginal units of energy.

https://www.energy.gov/oe/demand-response

Calling it 'well worn' is probably a vast overstatement.

Most US utilities have had a program to turn off your AC unit temporarily for the last decade or two (since the 1970s energy crisis), first with a signal over mains/utility power, more recently using wifi thermostats like Nest ("rush hour rewards") and Ecobee. Soaking up excess energy with hot water heaters in Australia as well (vs reducing coal generator output).

> Early Beginnings: 1970s to 1990s Demand Response emerged during the energy crises of the 1970s. During this period, the U.S. faced significant energy shortages, prompting utilities and policymakers to explore innovative ways to manage electricity demand and avoid blackouts. Initial DR efforts were rudimentary, focusing on direct load control. Utilities could remotely switch off high-energy appliances like air conditioners during peak demand periods. These early programs were primarily designed to prevent grid failures and reduce the need for constructing new power plants .

> In the 1980s, DR programs began incorporating time-of-use pricing, which incentivized customers to shift their electricity usage to off-peak hours by offering lower rates during these periods. This strategy aimed to flatten demand curves and reduce the strain on the grid during peak hours .

https://www.energytoolbase.com/blog/energy-storage/the-evolu...

https://www.energycodes.gov/sites/default/files/2025-01/Tech...

So how many of those utilities call "being able to remotely shut off your AC" a "virtual power plant"?

"Virtual power plant" is more recent term of art in the industry for being able to orchestrate either providing power to the grid (distributed batteries and/or solar providing power to the grid from distributed generation when called upon in the aggregate) or controlling distributed load (like EV chargers, water heaters, or AC chillers that can make ice to time shift energy consumption) in a more controlled and granular way.

Turning off AC units in regions to shed load was a very crude tool with tech available at the time, broad internet connectivity and sophisticated power controls and energy storage allows for much more sophisticated grid energy orchestration (enabling "virtual power plants"). The term of art is a result of the state of the art grid power control advancements.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/02/07/1087836/how-virt...

https://greenmountainpower.com/news/gmps-request-to-expand-c...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_power_plant

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

What a bunch of a-holes.

You know shit is messed up when even engineers can't use words that mean anything anymore.

The world would probably be much better if every "save the grid" or "destroy the grid" headline was changed to "make the grid slightly more/less efficient".

What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. Clickbait doesn't kill article ad revenue.

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