Alleviating grid stresses with virtual power plants, with Michael Lynch (Enel X)

Sep 4, 2025

Michael Lynch, the Manager of Enel X’s global Network Operations Centre in Dublin, dives into the world of Virtual Power Plants (VPPs). With insights from managing 9 gigawatts of distributed resources, he discusses how VPPs alleviate grid stress by aggregating diverse energy sources. Lynch explains the balancing act between generation and demand response during peak times and the vital role of automation in managing these systems. The conversation also touches on the human element necessary for personalized energy management amidst complex challenges.

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INSIGHT

Curtailment Dominates, Batteries Rising Fast

Most enrolled VPP assets are curtailment-capable industrial loads, with battery storage growing rapidly.
Batteries and on-site generation let sites avoid production impacts while still supporting peaks.

ADVICE

Match Control Models To Customer Needs

Offer flexible engagement models to customers, from manual notifications to giving full automated control.
Align each customer's program to their operations so participation doesn't harm their primary business.

INSIGHT

VPPs Are Used Daily, Not Just In Emergencies

VPPs operate daily across many programs, not only for rare emergencies; Enel X rose from ~600 DR events to 1,400 in a year.
Frequency and balancing programs drive frequent dispatch to manage everyday imbalances.

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Electricity grids worldwide need both the flexibility to adapt to renewable energy sources, and the resilience to cope with grid-stress events. Demand curtailment and other forms of demand-side response (DSR) play an increasingly fundamental role in supporting both these requirements, yet direct participation in these programmes can be complex, and is typically geared towards high-demand customers with single, centralised sites.

However smaller, decentralised organisations can still unlock the benefits of DSR and provide a crucial grid service by working with an aggregator. By bringing multiple demand customers and sites together in a virtual power plant (VPP), aggregators help businesses of all sizes become major contributors to grid stability, without the challenges of managing individual enrolment themselves.

In this episode, Michael Lynch, manager of Enel X’s global Network Operations Centre (NOC) in Dublin, joins Ed Porter to discuss the growing role of VPPs in helping stabilise global electricity grids. In conversation they discuss:

The nature of VPPs, and the type of generation, storage and load-curtailment resources they aggregate.
How VPPs respond to the requirements of grid and asset operators.
The use of flexibility and automation in managing VPP performance.
The need for resilience in the NOC to ensure a reliable and rapid response in volatile conditions – from shutdowns and outages, to extreme weather and earthquakes.
The human dimension and skills set required to balance around 10 GW of flexibility services worldwide.
The future of VPPs as they adopt more battery storage assets in EVs, homes and businesses.

About our guest

Michael joined Enel X Global Retail in 2020 from an airline operations control centre, where he

gained hands-on experience planning, scheduling and managing disruptions in a fast-paced,

high-pressure environment.

Enel X Global Retail is Enel Group’s business line dedicated to customers around the world with the aim of effectively providing products and services based on their energy needs and encouraging them towards a more conscious and sustainable use of energy. Globally, it provides electricity, integrated and innovative energy services to more than 54 million customers worldwide, offering flexibility services aggregating 9.8 GW, managing around 3 million lighting points, and with 30,500 owned public charging points for electric mobility.

For more information on what Enel X Global Retail does, head to its website at https://www.enelx.com/uk/en/

About Modo Energy

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage solutions understand the market - and make the most out of their assets.

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