This book provides an overview of virtual power plants as a key technology in future energy communities and active distribution and transmission networks for managing distributed energy resources, providing local and global services, and facilitating market participation of small-scale managing distributed energy resources, and prosumers.

Ehsan Heydarian-Forushani is a Research Fellow to Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France. His main research interests include power system flexibility, active distribution networks, renewables integration, demand response, smart grids, and electricity market.

Hassan Haes Alhelou is currently with the Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia. His major research interests are Power systems, Power system dynamics, Power system operation, control, Dynamic state estimation, Frequency control, Smart grids, Micro-grids, Demand response, and Load shedding.

Seifeddine Benelghali is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France. His current research interests include smart grids; virtual power plant; demand response; machine learning; renewable energy integration; energy management systems; electric machines and drives.

1. Practical Implementation of VPP in the Real World Based on Emerging Technologies. 2. Virtual Power Plant with Demand Response Control in Aggregated Distributed Energy Resources of Microgrid. 3. Exploiting the Flexibility Value of Virtual Power Plants through Market Participation in Smart Energy Communities. 4. Renewable Energy Community VPP Concept Design and Modelling for Sustainable Islands. 5. A Comprehensive Smart Energy Management Strategy for TVPP, CVPP, and Energy Communities. 6. Virtual Energy Storage Systems for Virtual Power Plants. 7. Centralized and Decentralized Optimization Approaches for Energy Management within The VPP. 8. Decision-Making Frameworks for Virtual Power Plant Aggregators in Wholesale Energy and Ancillary Service Markets. 9. Decentralized Energy Management System within VPP. 10. Distributed Synchronism System Based on TSN and PTP for Virtual Power Plant. 11. Complementarity and Flexibility Indexes of an Interoperable VPP. 12. Experience of Building a Virtual Power Plant of the Island of El Hierro.