Building Virtual Power Plants With Dataspaces for Faster Integration of Distributed Energy Resources

Integrating new distributed energy resources (DERs) into commercial virtual power plants (CVPPs) remains a technically complex and time-consuming task. This complexity poses a critical barrier, as DER portfolios frequently change due to expiring contracts or shifting marketing strategies, which require repeated establishment of secure, protocol-specific communication channels. In this paper, we propose a dataspace-based approach that systematically addresses these recurring integration challenges by mapping them onto reusable technical concepts. Our solution builds on existing dataspace technologies, including standardized interface descriptions, automated access control, and structured discoveryworkflows, to simplify and accelerate the onboarding process. We present a practical implementation and evaluate it using real-world integration data from two CVPPs, comprising more than 400 integration cases. The analysis shows that 11.5% of DERs required more than one month for onboarding, while expert assessment indicates that dataspace-based integration could reduce effort by up to 80%. These results demonstrate that our approach significantly improves the scalability and flexibility of CVPP operations, thereby supporting faster DER onboarding in increasingly dynamic and decentralized energy markets.