Int. J. Energy Technology and Policy, Vol. X, No.X, XXXX 1 Copyright © xxxx Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Dispachability Improvement of Wind Generation by the Virtual Power Producers H. Morais, M. Cardoso, N. Saleiro, Z.A. Vale, L. Castanheira and I. Praça GECAD – Knowledge Engineering and Decision-Support Research Group of Electrical Engineering Institute of the Polytechnic Institute of Porto (ISEP/IPP) Rua Dr. António Bernardino de Almeida, 431, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal E-mail: hgvm@isep.ipp.pt / joc@isep.ipp.pt / njps@isep.ipp.pt / lcc@isep.ipp.pt / zav@isep.ipp.pt / icp@isep.ipp.pt Abstract: Nowadays, there is a growing environmental concern about were the energy that we use comes from, bringing the attention on renewable energies. However, the use and trade of renewable energies in the market seem to be complicated because of the lack of guarantees of generation, mainly in the wind farms. The lack of guarantees is usually addressed by using a reserve generation. The aggregation of DG plants gives place to a new concept: the Virtual Power Producer (VPP). VPPs can reinforce the importance of wind generation technologies, making them valuable in electricity markets. This paper presents some results obtained with a simulation tool (ViProd) developed to support VPPs in the analysis of their operation and management methods and of their strategies effects. Keywords: Distributed Generation (DG), Wind power, Virtual Power Producer (VPP), Reserve Management, Electricity Market. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: H. Morais, M. Cardoso, L. Castanheira, Z.A. Vale and I. Praça (2007) ‘Reserve Management for Virtual Power Producers’, Int. J. Energy Technology and Policy, Vol. 5, No.2, 2007 Biographical Notes: Hugo Morais received the B.Sc. degree in 2005 from the Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Porto, Portugal. His research interests include distributed generation and future power systems. Marílio Cardoso received the B.Sc. degree in 2001 from the Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Porto, Portugal and he is currently an Assistant Professor of Electrical Power Systems with the same school. He is also a PhD student with the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal and his research interests include distributed generation and future power systems. Nuno Saleiro received the B.Sc. degree in 2005 from the Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Porto, Portugal. He is a researcher at GECAD Research Group and his current research interests are on Artificial Intelligence, Formalism, Logic, Electricity Markets, Evolutionary algorithms and Psychology.