Electricity Network Scenarios for Great Britain in 2050

The next fifty years are likely to see great developments in the technologies deployed in electricity systems, with consequent changes in the structure and operation of power networks. This paper, which forms a chapter in the forthcoming book Future Electricity Technologies and Systems, develops and presents six possible future electricity industry scenarios for Great Britain, focussed on the year 2050. The paper draws upon discussions of important technologies presented by expert authors in other chapters of the book to consider the impact of different combinations of key influences on the nature of the power system in 2050. For each scenario there is a discussion of the effects of the key parameters, with a description and pictorial illustration. Summary tables identify the role of the technologies presented in other chapters of the book, and list important figures of interest, such as the capacity and energy production of renewable generation technologies

An economic evaluation of the potential for distributed energy in Australia

Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) recently completed a major study investigating the value of distributed energy (DE; collectively demand management, energy efficiency and distributed generation) technologies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from Australia’s energy sector (CSIRO, 2009). This comprehensive report covered potential economic, environmental, technical, social, policy and regulatory impacts that could result from the wide scale adoption of these technologies. In this paper we highlight the economic findings from the study. Partial Equilibrium modeling of the stationary and transport sectors found that Australia could achieve a present value welfare gain of around $130 billion when operating under a 450 ppm carbon reduction trajectory through to 2050. Modeling also suggests that reduced volatility in the spot market could decrease average prices by up to 12% in 2030 and 65% in 2050 by using local resources to better cater for an evolving supply-demand imbalance. Further modeling suggests that even a small amount of distributed generation located within a distribution network has the potential to significantly alter electricity prices by changing the merit order of dispatch in an electricity spot market. Changes to the dispatch relative to a base case can have both positive and negative effects on network losses.Distributed energy; Economic modeling; Carbon price; Electricity markets

A review of microgrid development in the United States – A decade of progress on policies, demonstrations, controls, and software tools

Microgrids have become increasingly popular in the United States. Supported by favorable federal and local policies, microgrid projects can provide greater energy stability and resilience within a project site or community. This paper reviews major federal, state, and utility-level policies driving microgrid development in the United States. Representative U.S. demonstration projects are selected and their technical characteristics and non-technical features are introduced. The paper discusses trends in the technology development of microgrid systems as well as microgrid control methods and interactions within the electricity market. Software tools for microgrid design, planning, and performance analysis are illustrated with each tool's core capability. Finally, the paper summarizes the successes and lessons learned during the recent expansion of the U.S. microgrid industry that may serve as a reference for other countries developing their own microgrid industries

Renewable energy in remote communities

This article is the result of a competitively tendered University-funded project, this brings together two major Government Policy areas: sustainable communities and use of carbon fuels, and is aimed at influencing the policy debate on the difficulties of linking remote communities to renewable energy production because of poor distribution networks. Linkage with the Sustainable Communities agenda is an essential ingredient, as the proposal is that the renewable energy technologies will be installed and maintained by the communities themselves

Optimizing plug-in electric vehicle charging in interaction with a small office building

This paper considers the integration of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) in micro-grids. Extending a theoretical framework for mobile storage connection, the economic analysis here turns to the interactions of commuters and their driving behavior with office buildings. An illustrative example for a real office building is reported. The chosen system includes solar thermal, photovoltaic, combined heat and power generation as well as an array of plug-in electric vehicles with a combined aggregated capaci-ty of 864 kWh. With the benefit-sharing mechanism proposed here and idea-lized circumstances, estimated cost savings of 5% are possible. Different pricing schemes were applied which include flat rates, demand charges, as well as hourly variable final customer tariffs and their effects on the operation of intermittent storage were revealed and examined in detail. Because the plug-in electric vehicle connection coincides with peak heat and electricity loads as well as solar radiation, it is possible to shift energy demand as desired in order to realize cost savings. --Battery storage,building management systems,dispersed storage and generation,electric vehicles,load management,microgrid,optimization methods,power system economics,road vehicle electric propulsion

Microgrids and Resilience to Climate-Driven Impacts on Public Health

“Resilience” has burst into the lexicons of several policy areas in recent years, owing in no small part to climate change’s amplification of extreme events that severely disrupt the operation of natural, social, and engineered systems. Fostering resilience means anticipating severe disruptions and planning, investing, and designing so that such disruptions, which are certain to occur, are made shallower in depth and shorter in duration. Thus a resilient system or community can continue functioning despite disruptive events, return more swiftly to routine function following disruption, and incorporate new information so as to improve operations in extremis and speed future restorations. As different policy communities apply the concept of resilience to their respective missions, they emphasize different objectives. This article examines how the definitions adopted by the public health and electricity communities can, but do not necessarily, converge in responses to electricity outages so severe that they affect the operation of critical infrastructure, such as wastewater treatment and drinking water facilities, hospitals, and cooling centers. Currently, such outages cause a form of handoff from utilities to their customers: grid power fails and a small constellation of backup generators maintained by atomized campuses, facilities, or individual structures switch on, or fail to switch on, or were never purchased and so leave the location dark and its equipment inoperative. This handoff is operational, but it reflects legal obligations—and their limits. Enter the microgrid, a specially designed segment of the electricity distribution grid’s mesh that can either operate seamlessly as part of the wider grid, or as an independent “island” that serves some or all of the electricity users within its boundary even when the wider grid fails. Microgrids can, but do not necessarily, mitigate the adverse public health implications of the handoff that accompanies widespread and severe grid failure. To encourage the convergence of public health and electricity policy priorities in decisions about microgrid siting, design, and operation, this article makes several recommendations. Some of these should ideally be taken up at the federal level, but the bulk of the work they recommend should take place at the state-level, and would necessarily be implemented at the state and local levels

Socio-economic analysis of community-based micro hydro electricity schemes in Kenya

This thesis addresses three economic and social impediments to the successful deployment of community-based micro hydro grids using a case study from the Republic of Kenya. Kenya is one of the countries in Sub-Sahara Africa currently faced with low rural electricity access rates, but with abundant micro hydro resources spread across vast rural locations. Although majority of financial resources are channeled to grid extension in developing countries like Kenya, many rural households still live 'under the grid' because they cannot afford connection fees and/or cost of grid electricity. Such phenomenon has led to innovative solutions such as the concept of Community-Based Renewable Energy Schemes (CRES), facilitating joint exploitation of a local renewable energy (RE) resources. The government of Kenya in partnership with non-state actors set up demonstration points for Community-Based Micro Hydro Schemes (CBMHS) in two locations, and other communities have adopted this model by setting up their own electrification schemes in Kenya. However, the success of such schemes continues to be very limited in Kenya and other developing countries with majority of them disintegrating after few years of operation. This phenomenon is widely documented in literature, and a variety of barriers to success of such schemes continue to be interrogated in both published and unpublished academic literature. There are issues relevant to both establishment and continued operation of such electrification that have not received much scholarly research, but continue to largely limit delivery of sustainable and quality service, as well as hindering scaling up of these potentially useful rural electrification alternatives. These include: a) mismatch between the provided services by such group electrification schemes and the expectations of their consumers b) lack of supportive capacity for joint effort mobilization and capacity for self-governance within such schemes c) unsubstantiated claims of the capability of small scale renewable energy electrification impact on households that make them not to be considered as equally important energy solutions. This thesis makes a threefold contribution to the literature of rural electrification by firstly analyzing preference for properties of decentralized electricity delivery service in a field dominated by utility provided grid solutions. Secondly, the literature on governance of man-made common pool resources (CPR) is extended by providing evidence for the requirements for successful management of a small-scale electricity commons line a CBMHS. Lastly, the study produces reliable evidence regarding immediate or short-term changes to households anticipated from small scale electrification projects. Overall, the study presents lessons on implementing and sustaining rural communities' investments in decentralized RE electrification while demonstrating why such schemes should now form essential part of rural electrification delivery models. The three research issues are addressed independently in three chapters that follow the introductory chapter of this thesis

Microgrids and Resilience to Climate-Driven Impacts on Public Health

“Resilience” has burst into the lexicons of several policy areas in recent years, owing in no small part to climate change’s amplification of extreme events that severely disrupt the operation of natural, social, and engineered systems. Fostering resilience means anticipating severe disruptions and planning, investing, and designing so that such disruptions, which are certain to occur, are made shallower in depth and shorter in duration. Thus a resilient system or community can continue functioning despite disruptive events, return more swiftly to routine function following disruption, and incorporate new information so as to improve operations in extremis and speed future restorations. As different policy communities apply the concept of resilience to their respective missions, they emphasize different objectives. This article examines how the definitions adopted by the public health and electricity communities can, but do not necessarily, converge in responses to electricity outages so severe that they affect the operation of critical infrastructure, such as wastewater treatment and drinking water facilities, hospitals, and cooling centers. Currently, such outages cause a form of handoff from utilities to their customers: grid power fails and a small constellation of backup generators maintained by atomized campuses, facilities, or individual structures switch on, or fail to switch on, or were never purchased and so leave the location dark and its equipment inoperative. This handoff is operational, but it reflects legal obligations – and their limits. Enter the microgrid, a specially designed segment of the electricity distribution grid’s mesh that can either operate seamlessly as part of the wider grid, or as an independent “island” that serves some or all of the electricity users within its boundary even when the wider grid fails. Microgrids can, but do not necessarily, mitigate the adverse public health implications of the handoff that accompanies widespread and severe grid failure. To encourage the convergence of public health and electricity policy priorities in decisions about microgrid siting, design, and operation, this article makes several recommendations. Some of these should ideally be taken up at the federal level, but the bulk of the work they recommend should take place at the state-level, and would necessarily be implemented at the state and local levels