Cooperative operation of networked virtual power plants in low-carbon distribution systems

Networked virtual power plants can create coordination gains while their emission and participation outcomes depend on the governing carbon and settlement rules. This study develops a DSO-coordinated mechanism that couples feeder-constrained two-stage stochastic dispatch, carbon-policy accounting, and coalition-stable settlement. The dispatch model coordinates renewable output, dispatchable generation, stationary storage, mobility-coupled electric vehicles, reserve, and scenario recourse. Risk is represented by six clustered empirical scenarios and one explicit tail scenario, with a 95% conditional value-at-risk term. The policy layer separates physical operational emissions, allocated allowances, carbon-valued accounting cost, and internal settlement. The settlement layer uses standard Shapley values to calibrate weighted-Nash gains and evaluates every coalition through core and least-core diagnostics. In a 168 h CAISO-eGRID case, cooperation under the same tiered carbon rule reduced total accounting cost from 52,566.65 to 50,349.19 USD and created 2217.47 USD of surplus. Physical emissions changed from 141.3554 to 144.5849 t CO2, an increase of 3.2294 t CO2 under the matched policy. Carbon prices produced a non-uniform physical response, whereas renewable expansion changed the feasible operating set directly. The integrated results identify the operating and governance conditions that support cost efficiency, carbon accountability, and stable participation.