Improving wind power market value with various aspects of diversification

The wind generation share in many European bidding zones is now large enough to affect the market value of wind power, and wind energy is getting less-than-average market price in day-ahead markets. As alternatives to investing in dedicated energy storage, there are two main ways to mitigate the decreasing market value trend. The first is employing different diversification measures (geographical spread, alternative wind turbine technologies, integration with solar). The second is implementing demand flexibility measures. Examples of these measures from some European and USA studies are given in this article, which stems from the international collaboration under IEA Wind TCP Tasks 25 and 53.Improving wind power market value with various aspects of diversificationacceptedVersio

Virtual power plant models and electricity markets - A review

In recent years, the integration of distributed generation in power systems has been accompanied by new facility operations strategies. Thus, it has become increasingly important to enhance management capabilities regarding the aggregation of distributed electricity production and demand through different types of virtual power plants (VPPs). It is also important to exploit their ability to participate in electricity markets to maximize operating profits. This review article focuses on the classification and in-depth analysis of recent studies that propose VPP models including interactions with different types of energy markets. This classification is formulated according to the most important aspects to be considered for these VPPs. These include the formulation of the model, techniques for solving mathematical problems, participation in different types of markets, and the applicability of the proposed models to real case studies. From the analysis of the studies, it is concluded that the most recent models tend to be more complete and realistic in addition to featuring greater diversity in the types of electricity markets in which VPPs participate. The aim of this review is to identify the most profitable VPP scheme to be applied in each regulatory environment. It also highlights the challenges remaining in this field of study

Utilization of Electric Prosumer Flexibility Incentivized by Spot and Balancing Markets

The use of energy flexibility to balance electricity demand and supply is becoming increasingly important due to the growing share of fluctuating energy sources. Electric flexibility regarding time or magnitude of consumption can be offered in the form of different products on electricity spot and balancing power markets. In the wake of the energy transition and because of new possibilities provided by digitalization, the decision intervals on these markets are becoming shorter and the controllability of electricity consumption and generation more small-scale. This evolution opens up new chances for formerly passive energy consumers. This thesis shows how electric flexibility can be monetized using the application example of commercial sites. These are often multimodal energy systems coupling electricity, heat, and gas, and thus deliver high flexibility potential. To leverage this potential, a comprehensive picture of demand-side flexibilization is provided and used to propose an energy management system and optimization for cost-optimized device schedules. The cost-optimization considers two simultaneous incentives: variable day-ahead spot market prices and revenues for offering possible schedule adjustments to the automatic Frequency Restoration Reserve (aFRR) balancing market. To solve the formulated optimization problem, a genetic algorithm is presented, tailored to the specific needs of consumers. In addition to addressing the trade-off between the two competing markets, the algorithm inherently considers the uncertain activation of aFRR bids and related catch-up effects. An analysis of the activation behavior of aFRR balancing market bids, based on a developed ex-post simulation, forms an important decision basis for the optimization. Finally, a simulation study concentrating on battery energy storage systems and combined heat and power plants on the consumer side enables the quantitative discussion of the optimization potential. The results show that consumers considering both markets simultaneously can achieve cost benefits that are up to multiples of those for pure day-ahead price optimization, despite the stochastic nature of aFRR balancing power activations. In conclusion, this thesis enables formerly passive electricity consumers to assume the role of alternative balancing service providers, hence contributing to the economic and reliable operation of power grids characterized by a high share of renewable energy sources