A virtual power plant scheduling strategy considering cooperative participation of multiple industrial users in demand response

Long Wang; Tingzhe Pan; Yi Wang; Xin Jin; Heyang Yu; Wangzhang Cao; Long Wang; Tingzhe Pan; Yi Wang; Xin Jin; Heyang Yu; Wangzhang Cao

doi:10.3934/energy.2025029

AIMS Energy

2025, Volume 13, Issue 4: 798-818. doi: 10.3934/energy.2025029

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Research article

A virtual power plant scheduling strategy considering cooperative participation of multiple industrial users in demand response

1.
Department of Sales & Marketing, China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd., Guangzhou 510663, China
2.
Electric Power Research Institute, China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd., Guangzhou 510663, China

Received: 26 January 2025 Revised: 24 May 2025 Accepted: 24 June 2025 Published: 08 July 2025

The construction of a novel power system requires the full utilization of demand-side flexibility. Industrial users, as the primary electricity consumers in society, play a critical role in system regulation. However, industrial users often participate in demand response (DR) as individual entities, and their single-unit regulation capacity is limited, making it difficult to effectively mobilize the regulation potential of a large number of industrial users. These issues hinder the effective use of demand-side flexibility. To address these problems, this paper proposes a method where a virtual power plant (VPP) aggregates various industrial loads to participate in DR, fully leveraging the flexible regulation capability of demand-side industrial users. First, we considered the load characteristics of multiple industrial users and establisheed regulation cost functions for three typical industrial users: electrolytic aluminum, steel, and cement. A cooperative game model was then constructed to coordinate the participation of industrial users in DR through VPP, with the Shapley value method employed to evaluate and allocate the profits of the cooperative alliance. Finally, simulation results show that by aggregating industrial users through VPP for DR participation, both the cooperative alliance and individual users experience a reduction in production costs, while the total response depth of the alliance also achieved an improvement.
- demand response,
- virtual power plant,
- cooperative games,
- industrial users,
- profit allocation
Citation: Long Wang, Tingzhe Pan, Yi Wang, Xin Jin, Heyang Yu, Wangzhang Cao. A virtual power plant scheduling strategy considering cooperative participation of multiple industrial users in demand response[J]. AIMS Energy, 2025, 13(4): 798-818. doi: 10.3934/energy.2025029

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Abstract

The construction of a novel power system requires the full utilization of demand-side flexibility. Industrial users, as the primary electricity consumers in society, play a critical role in system regulation. However, industrial users often participate in demand response (DR) as individual entities, and their single-unit regulation capacity is limited, making it difficult to effectively mobilize the regulation potential of a large number of industrial users. These issues hinder the effective use of demand-side flexibility. To address these problems, this paper proposes a method where a virtual power plant (VPP) aggregates various industrial loads to participate in DR, fully leveraging the flexible regulation capability of demand-side industrial users. First, we considered the load characteristics of multiple industrial users and establisheed regulation cost functions for three typical industrial users: electrolytic aluminum, steel, and cement. A cooperative game model was then constructed to coordinate the participation of industrial users in DR through VPP, with the Shapley value method employed to evaluate and allocate the profits of the cooperative alliance. Finally, simulation results show that by aggregating industrial users through VPP for DR participation, both the cooperative alliance and individual users experience a reduction in production costs, while the total response depth of the alliance also achieved an improvement.

References

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