RACV adds virtual power plant services to suite of membership offerings

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The Melbourne-headquartered Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) motoring interest advocacy organisation has added virtual power plant (VPP) services to its catalogue of membership offerings, with VPP installations at its Torquay and Inverloch resorts, respectively 100 kilometres southwest and 150 southeast from Melbourne.

The VPP is the first of its kind to participate in the very-fast frequency control ancillary services (FCAS) market managed by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).

RACV General Manager Energy Services Greg Edye said that following its successful deployment of a VPP, the organisation was pleased to offer its VPP product to help other businesses contribute to a cleaner energy future.

“The RACV VPP currently aggregates two 500 kW / 500 KWh batteries at RACV Torquay and RACV Inverloch. Together, these batteries provide a total capacity of 1 MW / 1 MWh,” Edye told pv magazine.

“By installing a virtual power plant at our resorts, we have been able to realise a range of commercial benefits such as managing energy costs and generating revenue, at the same time as contributing to grid stability by feeding energy back into the grid during periods of high demand.”

Edye said following the success of the RACV VPP since its launch in 2024, RACV will now assess options to expand it across additional RACV resort properties in the future.

The VPPs energy asset managment software has been sourced from Sydney-headquartered technology company PowerSync Technologies.

PowerSync Technologies Founder and Chief Executive Officer David Naismith explained to pv magazine that its platform reliably operates in the very fast, 1-second market.

“PowerSync supports RACV’s battery operation on site but also take advantage of opportunities in the energy market, so we optimise site operation as well as operating in the FCAS and wholesale market arbitrage,” Naismith said.

“The platform has three modules where we have the edge module, which is how we integrate systems on site to operate the battery, then the cloud module, which optimises the available capacity, and the market module.”

A 95 kW rooftop solar and 500 kW / 500 KWh battery energy system at RACV’s Inverloch resort also contributes to the VPP.

Image: RACV

As well as a 515 kW rooftop solar system and battery energy storage system at RACV’s Torquay Resort, 4 Chargefox electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, with 2 EV fast chargers and 2 EV ultra-rapid charging stations were installed in 2019, with the first rollout of solar modules.

Torquay’s 1,218 Winaico mono perc solar panel system generates 438,854 kW of electricity per year saving 491.5 tonnes of carbon per annum, utilising 5 SolarEdge inverters and P700 optimisers.

RACV also has a contract with Snowy Hydro energy distributor Red Energy to supply its remaining electricity needs meaning its offices and leisure properties are now entirely powered by renewable energy.

A VPP is a network of solar batteries connected through advanced software systems to operate as a unified energy source. This technology stores energy, making it available to the grid during times of peak demand.

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