A market-based investigation of large-scale renewable energy integration in northwestern Europe

A high increase in the installed capacities of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) is expected by 2020 and beyond in Europe, and power systems planners and regulators have to make sure that the power systems are designed and operated to make optimal use of the potential of these clean energy sources. This paper investigates the consequences of integrating large-scale solar and wind power in the future Northwestern European power system. A zonal market model is used, where unit commitment and economic dispatch simulations for a given development scenario of load and generation, including wind power and solar power time series and inter-zonal transmission constraints, are with hourly resolution. The ability of the power system to absorb the available "green" energy is assessed. Moreover, factors that can hamper or improve the RES integration are identified by performing a sensitivity analysis on a subset of the scenario attributes

Transmission expansion planning under increased uncertainties, towards efficient and sustainable power systems

The ongoing liberalization process around the world has led to the emergence of energy markets, facilitating more international trade between countries making the best use of energy resources and optimizing overall power systems. Consequently, inter-area power exchanges have significantly increased and further growth can be foreseen. In Europe, the planning of large energy infrastructures has entered a new dimension, namely the trans-European one. The way of thinking is gradually switching from national to regional (European) interests, as this is the most efficient way to attain a sustainable energy future. This brings many new challenges. Europe finds itself at the beginning of a transition towards a low carbon and sustainable electricity supply system, which is guided by the European Union (EU) Energy Policy core objectives: competitiveness, reliability and sustainability. This thesis looks at transmission expansion planning approaches under increased uncertainties. The liberalization of the electricity sector, the emergence of international electricity markets and increased penetration of renewable energy sources introduce many new challenges to transmission system operators. This is mainly because the complexity and related uncertainties in the power system have very much increased. These uncertainties are around the transmission scheduling and operation, and are especially related to the future needs for transmission capacity. Consequently, more advanced and robust methods for planning the transmission grid are needed. In addition, the building of new transmission lines is usually a lengthy process because of the authorization process duration. This process needs to become shorter in order to match the fast pace of changes in generation capacity and location. The main contributions of this thesis are: a new (round-the-year) method and new criteria for assessing the bottlenecks in the grid; a security-based iterative method for proposing network reinforcements; investigating the potential development of a transnational offshore grid in the North Sea and its effects on the onshore system; proposing an approach for streamlining approval procedures of transmission lines and fostering societal acceptance of transmission lines.Intelligent Electrical Power GridElectrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc

Sustainability assessment of transmission expansion alternatives

With good transmission infrastructure wind power can be better integrated and conventional power plants can optimize their production share. This brings as a direct consequence a number of sustainability benefits. Sustainability assessment methods are important as they provide valuable information for guiding the decision and policy makers in adopting the right measures for infrastructure development. The main contribution of this paper is devising a methodology for assessing the sustainability improvements that different transmission expansion alternatives could bring to an interconnected power system. The method makes use of unit commitment and economic dispatch simulations for a given development scenario of load and generation, including wind power time series and inter-zonal transmission constraints. Simulations are run for a whole year, and after that, sustainability benefits of interconnection expansion alternatives are computed relative to a base case. The proposed method is applied to a future load and generation scenario for North-Western Europe, including on- and offshore wind power development. The transmission expansion options that would bring the most sustainability benefits to the region are highlighted

Sustainability assessment of transmission expansion alternatives

With good transmission infrastructure wind power can be better integrated and conventional power plants can optimize their production share. This brings as a direct consequence a number of sustainability benefits. Sustainability assessment methods are important as they provide valuable information for guiding the decision and policy makers in adopting the right measures for infrastructure development. The main contribution of this paper is devising a methodology for assessing the sustainability improvements that different transmission expansion alternatives could bring to an interconnected power system. The method makes use of unit commitment and economic dispatch simulations for a given development scenario of load and generation, including wind power time series and inter-zonal transmission constraints. Simulations are run for a whole year, and after that, sustainability benefits of interconnection expansion alternatives are computed relative to a base case. The proposed method is applied to a future load and generation scenario for North-Western Europe, including on- and offshore wind power development. The transmission expansion options that would bring the most sustainability benefits to the region are highlighted

Round-the-year security analysis with bottleneck ranking for interconnected power systems with large-scale wind power

The ongoing liberalization process in Europe together with the growing penetration of renewable energy sources (RES), e.g. wind power, require an internationally oriented transmission planning approach that considers the increased uncertainties in terms of trade, location of generation and output of intermittent RES. This paper identifies and ranks bottlenecks, which is the first step of the transmission expansion planning process of interconnected transmission grids. A round-the-year approach is adopted by combining market simulations with static security analysis. Many combinations of load and generation (including renewables) are created and analyzed, using unit dispatch based on cost optimization. For each combination the branch loadings are determined for normal and contingency situations. A statistical risk-based approach for ranking the most severe bottlenecks is developed. The method is illustrated on a modified New England test system where wind power was added at several buses. A regional analysis and a detailed per-area analysis are presented

Round-the-year security analysis with large-scale wind power integration

The ongoing liberalization process together with the growing penetration of renewable energy sources (RES), e.g., wind power, require an internationally oriented transmission planning approach that considers the increased uncertainties in terms of trade, location of generation, and output of intermittent generation. This paper identifies and ranks bottlenecks, which is the first step of the transmission planning process for interconnected high-voltage grids. A round-the-year approach is proposed by combining market simulations with static security analysis. Many combinations of load and generation (including RES) are created and analyzed, using unit dispatch based on cost optimization. For each combination, the branch loadings are determined for normal and contingency situations. A statistical risk-based approach for ranking the most severe bottlenecks is developed. The method is illustrated on a modified New England test system where wind power was added at several buses. The risk of overload versus amount of installed wind power is also assessed

Round-the-year security analysis with bottleneck ranking for interconnected power systems with large-scale wind power

The ongoing liberalization process in Europe together with the growing penetration of renewable energy sources (RES), e.g. wind power, require an internationally oriented transmission planning approach that considers the increased uncertainties in terms of trade, location of generation and output of intermittent RES. This paper identifies and ranks bottlenecks, which is the first step of the transmission expansion planning process of interconnected transmission grids. A round-the-year approach is adopted by combining market simulations with static security analysis. Many combinations of load and generation (including renewables) are created and analyzed, using unit dispatch based on cost optimization. For each combination the branch loadings are determined for normal and contingency situations. A statistical risk-based approach for ranking the most severe bottlenecks is developed. The method is illustrated on a modified New England test system where wind power was added at several buses. A regional analysis and a detailed per-area analysis are presented

A market-based investigation of large-scale renewable energy integration in northwestern Europe

A high increase in the installed capacities of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) is expected by 2020 and beyond in Europe, and power systems planners and regulators have to make sure that the power systems are designed and operated to make optimal use of the potential of these clean energy sources. This paper investigates the consequences of integrating large-scale solar and wind power in the future Northwestern European power system. A zonal market model is used, where unit commitment and economic dispatch simulations for a given development scenario of load and generation, including wind power and solar power time series and inter-zonal transmission constraints, are with hourly resolution. The ability of the power system to absorb the available "green" energy is assessed. Moreover, factors that can hamper or improve the RES integration are identified by performing a sensitivity analysis on a subset of the scenario attributes