Global trends in the political economy of smart grids: A tailored perspective on 'smart' for grids in transition

The global transition towards sustainable, secure, and affordable electricity supply is driving changes in the consumption, production, and transportation of electricity. This paper shows the different policy aims that are promoted with smart grids in Europe, the United States, and China. In all cases, the developments are motivated by the possible improvements in reliability and affordability yielded by smart grids, while sustainability of the electricity sector is not a central motivation

Quantifying the "merit-order" effect in European electricity markets

The increase in renewable energy sources has contributed to containing and even lowering electricity wholesale prices in many markets (although not necessarily retail prices) by causing a shift in the merit order curve and substituting part of the generation of conventional thermal plants, which have higher marginal production costs. This merit order effect along with priority dispatch can affect revenues of conventional power plants, especially in Member States experiencing rapid deployment of variable renewables. In some Member States, this raises the question of how to ensure adequate investment signals on generation guaranteeing capacity and balancing power at the lowest possible cost. This Rapid Response Energy Brief quantifies the merit order effect in 2030 and 2050 in European electricity wholesale markets by comparing electricity systems in a Reference and Mitigation Scenario for both years. Scenario results show for the Scenario modelled that the reduction in wholesale electricity price between scenarios is on average €1.6/MWh and €4.2/MWh for 2030 and 2050 respectively. A simplified approach is also used to assess the impact of Demand Response on system costs

Towards the design of flexibility management in smart grids : A techno-institutional perspective

The European policy focus on smart grids implies their development as an indispensable part of the future power system. However, the definition of a smart grid is broad and vague, and the actual implementation of a smart grid can differ significantly, depending on the stakeholders involved.This work aims to inform policy makers, the electricity industry and researchers about stakeholder interests and the technical complexities involved by presenting smart grids via a techno-institutional framework. This framework takes account of the technical nature of the electricity transport and supply service as well as the institutional nature of electricity markets, stakeholder perspectives and sector regulation. In addition, this work presents potential revenues resulting from flexibility management in smart grids and proposes a way forward for smart grids and flexibility management in Europe.QC 20170925</p

Business model innovation for Local Energy Management: a perspective from Swiss utilities

The successful deployment of the energy transition relies on a deep reorganization of the energy market. Business model innovation is recognized as a key driver of this process. This work contributes to this topic by providing to potential Local Energy Management stakeholders and policy makers a conceptual framework guiding the Local Energy Management business model innovation. The main determinants characterizing Local Energy Management concepts and impacting its business model innovation are identified through literature reviews on distributed generation typologies and customer/investor preferences related to new business opportunities emerging with the energy transition. Afterwards, the relation between the identified determinants and the Local Energy Management business model solution space is analyzed based on semi-structured interviews with managers of Swiss utilities companies. The collected managers’ preferences serve as explorative indicators supporting the business model innovation process and provide insights to policy makers on challenges and opportunities related to Local Energy Management

Aggregation of demand side flexibility in a smart grid: A review for European market design

International audienceThe increased share of renewable generation and the integration of Distributed Generation (DG) require more electricity system flexibility. One way to increase this flexibility is to use the potentials of demand response (DR). In order to activate the full range of customers in DR, a new market intermediary actor is needed to aggregate the resources in an adequate technical and economical format. These actors, so called " aggregators " , can act as flexibility providers to support security of supply considering network, generation and consumers constraints. However, despite their technical and economical utility, aggregators are not self-emerging in many European countries. Consequently, this paper aims at identifying the main barriers accounting for this lack of aggregators in Europe. Eventually this paper provides a policy review for European market designs that support aggregation

Managing Distributed Energy Resources in a Smart Grid Environment: A review for incentives, aggregation and market design

International audienceIn many electric systemsworldwide the penetration ofdistributed energy resources (DER) at the distribution levelsis increasing. This penetration brings in different challenges for electricity system management; however if the flexibility of those DER is well managed opportunities arise for coordination. At high voltage levels under responsibility of the system operator, trading mechanisms like contracts for ancillary services and balancing markets provide opportunities for economic efficient supply of system flexibility services. In a situation with smart metering and real-time management of distribution networks, similar arrangements could be enabled for medium-and low-voltage levels. This paper presents a review and classification of existing DER as flexibility providers and a breakdown of trading platforms for DER flexibility in electricity markets