Project Symphony’s cost-benefit analysis showed a Virtual Power Plant’s potential to deliver substantial benefits over 10 years by orchestrating DERs. Additionally, this report outlines six key recommendations to scale DER orchestration.
Report extract
The Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) for Project Symphony assessed the economic viability of a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) across a 10-year period for stakeholders like residential customers, Western Power as the Distribution System Operator (DSO), Synergy as an Aggregator, and the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) as the Distribution Market Operator (DMO). Using pilot scenarios, it evaluated Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) for network support and various payment models.
The CBA factored in broader market conditions, comparing orchestrated DER outcomes against a base case without DER orchestration across four growth scenarios—Pilot, Expected, High, and Hyper. These scenarios considered different rates of DER adoption and VPP participation, projecting potential market conditions.
Results showed a positive Net Present Value (NPV) in all scenarios for the Fully Orchestrated test, suggesting significant benefits if the project expanded to include more DER types and achieved cost efficiencies. Despite initial recruitment and cost challenges, the financial benefits to customers through incentives and orchestration payments significantly outweighed their increased energy costs. The findings underscore the need for further development of pricing and customer engagement strategies to distribute value equitably among all VPP participants.