La transition énergétique à l’échelle locale: la production décentralisée d’électricité et le rôle des entreprises municipales et des fournisseurs régionaux

Dans le débat actuel sur l’avenir de l’approvisionnement électrique de l’Allemagne, il ne s’agit pas seulement de la contribution des énergies renouvelables à la transition énergétique; mais de la question des rôles futurs respectifs que pourraient jouer les formes de production centralisées et décentralisées. Avec la libéralisation du secteur économique de l’énergie depuis les années 1990, la production d’électricité décentralisée a connu un essor. À côté de différents types de producteurs indépendants, les entreprises municipales et les producteurs régionaux ont découvert le nouveau secteur d’activité de la production décentralisée à partir des énergies renouvelables. Ils pourraient dans l’avenir jouer un rôle important dans la transition énergétique.The debate on the future of the German „Energiewende“, i.e. the transition to renewable energy, is not only about renewable energy technologies, but also about the role of centralized versus decentralized electricity generation. Decentralized electricity generation has grown continuously since electricity market liberalization in Germany took off in the 1990s. Simultaneously the diversity of actors involved in electricity generation has increased. Whereas centralized electricity generation has traditionally been the domain of utilities utilizing fossil and nuclear sources, decentralized electricity generation has at first been dominated by independent power producers from other sectors and is mainly based on renewable energies and combined heat and power plants. In addition to various types of independent power producers, local and regional utilities have now also discovered decentralized electricity generation from renewable energies as a profitable business segment. Because of their local embeddedness and the resulting advantages in realizing decentralized renewable energy projects, they are likely to play a key role for the German “Energiewende” in the future.In der aktuellen Debatte über die Zukunft der deutschen Stromversorgung geht es nicht nur um den Beitrag der erneuerbaren Energien zur Energiewende, sondern auch um die Frage, welche Rolle zentrale versus dezentrale Erzeugungsformen zukünftig spielen sollen. Die dezentrale Stromerzeugung hat mit der Liberalisierung der Energiewirtschaft seit den 1990er Jahren einen Aufschwung erlebt. Gleichzeitig hat sich die Vielfalt der an der Stromerzeugung beteiligten Akteure deutlich erhöht. Neben unterschiedlichen Typen von unabhängigen Produzenten haben insbesondere Stadtwerke und Regionalversorger die dezentrale Erzeugung aus erneuerbaren Energien als neues Geschäftsfeld entdeckt und könnten in Zukunft eine maßgebliche Rolle für die Energiewende in Deutschland spielen

La transition énergétique à l’échelle locale: la production décentralisée d’électricité et le rôle des entreprises municipales et des fournisseurs régionaux

Dans le débat actuel sur l’avenir de l’approvisionnement électrique de l’Allemagne, il ne s’agit pas seulement de la contribution des énergies renouvelables à la transition énergétique; mais de la question des rôles futurs respectifs que pourraient jouer les formes de production centralisées et décentralisées. Avec la libéralisation du secteur économique de l’énergie depuis les années 1990, la production d’électricité décentralisée a connu un essor. À côté de différents types de producteurs indépendants, les entreprises municipales et les producteurs régionaux ont découvert le nouveau secteur d’activité de la production décentralisée à partir des énergies renouvelables. Ils pourraient dans l’avenir jouer un rôle important dans la transition énergétique.The debate on the future of the German „Energiewende“, i.e. the transition to renewable energy, is not only about renewable energy technologies, but also about the role of centralized versus decentralized electricity generation. Decentralized electricity generation has grown continuously since electricity market liberalization in Germany took off in the 1990s. Simultaneously the diversity of actors involved in electricity generation has increased. Whereas centralized electricity generation has traditionally been the domain of utilities utilizing fossil and nuclear sources, decentralized electricity generation has at first been dominated by independent power producers from other sectors and is mainly based on renewable energies and combined heat and power plants. In addition to various types of independent power producers, local and regional utilities have now also discovered decentralized electricity generation from renewable energies as a profitable business segment. Because of their local embeddedness and the resulting advantages in realizing decentralized renewable energy projects, they are likely to play a key role for the German “Energiewende” in the future.In der aktuellen Debatte über die Zukunft der deutschen Stromversorgung geht es nicht nur um den Beitrag der erneuerbaren Energien zur Energiewende, sondern auch um die Frage, welche Rolle zentrale versus dezentrale Erzeugungsformen zukünftig spielen sollen. Die dezentrale Stromerzeugung hat mit der Liberalisierung der Energiewirtschaft seit den 1990er Jahren einen Aufschwung erlebt. Gleichzeitig hat sich die Vielfalt der an der Stromerzeugung beteiligten Akteure deutlich erhöht. Neben unterschiedlichen Typen von unabhängigen Produzenten haben insbesondere Stadtwerke und Regionalversorger die dezentrale Erzeugung aus erneuerbaren Energien als neues Geschäftsfeld entdeckt und könnten in Zukunft eine maßgebliche Rolle für die Energiewende in Deutschland spielen

A Cross-European Analysis of the Impact of Electricity Pricing on Battery Uptake in Residential Microgrids with Photovoltaic Units

As decentralized electricity generation is supporting grid development into the prosumer era, this paper investigates the economic viability of adding batteries to residential microgrids powered by photovoltaic units, under various electricity pricing schemes. Batteries bring the benefits of grid-stabilization and congestion relief, and they are also becoming cheaper. The problem identified is that the main grid effectively acts as a lossless storage system, especially under the net-metering scheme, whereas using a battery involves investment costs and energy losses. This mismatch is addressed by analysing residential microgrid projects under seven tariff designs, each in seven countries of the European Union, and compare the economic viability of photovoltaic systems with and without batteries. The findings show that the conditions most favourable to batteries are given by a capacity tariff scheme allowing price arbitrage. Based on these findings, the paper discusses possibilities for further support in order to bring the economic viability of microgrids with batteries on par with that of microgrids without batteries

Impacts of Electricity Consumers’ Unit Commitment on Low Voltage Networks

Todays electricity consumer tend to become small businesses as they invest in their own decentralized electricity generation and stationary electricity storage as well as in information technology (IT) to connect and organize these new devices. Furthermore, the installed IT allows them at least technically to establish local markets. The variety of consumers and their characteristics implies numerous ways of how they optimize their individual unit commitment. This paper aims to analyze the impact of the individual consumers decisions on a future electricity demand and feed-in on low voltage network level. Therefore, in a first step the different unit commitment problems of the different small businesses have been modeled using linear programming (LP). In a second step these consumers are modeled as learning agents of a multi-agent system (MAS). The MAS comprises a local electricity market in which participants negotiate supply relationships. Finally, using scenarios with different input parameters the resulting impact is studied in detail. Amongst others, the simulations’ results show major changes in electricity demand and feed-in for scenarios with high market penetration of storages

Photovoltaics Noise Barrier: Acoustic and Energetic Study

AbstractIn the light of global warming, renewables such as solar photovoltaics (PV) are important to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. An important issue regarding implementation of solar panels on large scale, is the limited available area. Therefore, it can be interesting to combine PV with alternative applications, as a ways of not requiring “additional” space. One example is a photovoltaic noise barrier (PVNB), where a noise barrier located along a highway or railway is used as substructure for PV modules. Even though PVNB is not a novel concept, in this paper it is studied the best shape of the barrier to optimize the acoustic and energy properties

The Role of Decentralized Renewable Energy for Rural Electrification. Maharashtra case study, India

Access to electricity is important to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The centralized model of large thermal power stations and a central grid is a conventional system to supply electricity to consumers. This centralized model has failed to provide electricity and to achieve the rural electrification objective in developing countries. Un-electrified areas of the developing world are generally located in remote, hilly and forested regions, where grid extension is likely to be impossible for various reasons. Instead of this, decentralized renewable energy (DRE) for electricity generation has provided an avenue to electrify these remote areas and improve their social and economic conditions. This research is an attempt to seek a balanced view between a centralized conventional source of electricity and decentralized renewable energy for rural electrification. Research has shown the various benefits of decentralized renewable energy (DRE) for rural electrification in Maharashtra, an Indian state. Maharashtra is presently experiencing serious electricity shortages, of around 4 GW. Therefore, prioritization of the distribution of electricity has led to conflict between the government and inhabitants of Maharashtra. Renewable energy (RE) has been looked at to provide electricity in remote areas of Maharashtra. However, there are around 5 554 villages that have not been electrified yet, and it would not be feasible to electrify them with centralized grid electricity. This research concludes that there is indeed discrimination in terms of the quality of electricity supplied to rural consumers as compared to city-based domestic consumers. The way RE has been pursued in Maharashtra for rural electrification is not so impressive, and has been restricted to small-scale use and domestic lighting. The experience drawn from successful examples of DRE in other parts of India has shown that large-scale application of DRE is possible to replicate in Maharashtra. Nevertheless, this study has documented some challenges and barriers to DRE in Maharashtra. Community perception towards RE, strong governmental policy in favour of DRE and the involvement of local government are some of the barriers. Simultaneously, development of a robust business model, a well established system for maintenance, economic viability and the sustainability of raw materials are some of the challenges. It is realized that if DRE is to provide superior benefits compared to centralized grid electricity in Maharashtra, it is of utmost importance to overcome these barriers and challenges

Does religion promote environmental sustainability? : exploring the role of religion in local energy transitions

This article explores the role of religion in local energy transition processes. By combining insights from (a) sustainability studies and (b) academic contributions on religion and sustainability, a theoretical approach for describing the role of religion in local energy transitions is developed. Religion is conceived of as a subsystem among other local subsystems that potentially contribute via their competences to energy transition processes. Three potential functions of religion are identified: (1) Campaigning and intermediation in the public sphere; (2) “Materialization” of transitions in the form of participation in projects related to sustainable transitions; and (3) Dissemination of values and worldviews that empower environmental attitudes and action. These functions are studied in the case of the energy transition in Emden, a city in North-Western Germany. Although religion attends, to some degree, each of the three functions, it does not assume a dominant role relative to other local subsystems. Actors from other social subsystems appear to overtake these functions in a more efficient way. As such, in a highly environmentally active region, there are few indications for a specific function of religion. These results shed a critical light on the previously held assumption that religion has a crucial impact on sustainability transitions

Renewable energy and decentralized power generation in Russia: an opportunity for German-Russian energy cooperation

Renewable and decentralized power generation are a centerpiece of Germany's domestic energy transition (Energiewende) and a major element of its international efforts to promote this goal. Recently, the renewables sector has also been advancing in Russia, albeit from a lower level. Thus, it is time to explore the status quo and analyze the potential for sustainable energy cooperation. In the context of the current deterioration in EURussian (energy) relations, crafting a sustainable energy partnership that is based on innovation, with an emphasis on electricity cooperation, might present an added value. (Autorenreferat