Capacity-constrained renewable power generation development in light of storage cost uncertainty. ESRI Working Paper No. 647 December 2019

The development of sustainable energy sources and their enabling infrastructures are often met by public opposition, resulting in lengthy planning processes. One proposed means of reducing public opposition is constraining the capacity of renewable energy projects onshore, leading to more small-scale, decentralised and possibly community-driven developments. This work computes the effects of same by performing a medium- and long-term generation expansion planning exercise considering two renewable development cases, in which renewable power expansion is spatially constrained to certain degrees, under high and low storage cost regimes. We employ an appropriately designed optimisation model, accounting for network effects, which are largely neglected in previous studies. We apply our study to the future Irish power system under a range of demand and policy scenarios. Irrespective of storage costs, the unconstrained portfolio is marginally cheaper than the constrained one. However, there are substantial differences in the final generation expansion portfolios. The network reinforcement requirements are also greater under the unconstrained approach. Lower storage costs only slightly mitigate the costs of capacity constraints but significantly alter the spatial distribution of generation investments. The differential in costs between the unconstrained and constrained cases increases non-linearly with renewable generation targets

Optimal development of electricity generation mix considering fossil fuel phase-out and strategic multi-area interconnection. ESRI WP616, February 2019

Increased renewable generation worldwide is posing new challenges for power system planners. The location, as well as the level and operation, of each generation resource is increasingly important. This work presents a constrained Generation Expansion Planning (GEP) optimization model. One of the salient features of the model is its reasonably accurate representation of the physical characteristics of power systems. It considers both active and reactive power flows in a linear manner. Natural voltage magnitude deviations from nominal values across the transmission system are also captured in the resulting model. Therefore, the network model employed here closely resembles the AC optimal power flow one.We apply the model to a realistic test system of the island of Ireland and determine the optimal generation expansion and operation out to 2030 under a range of demand and policy scenarios. Our results show that costs and emissions are driven primarily by the decommissioning of old inefficient generation units. High renewable targets, on the other hand, render increased carbon prices relatively ineffective in reducing system emissions

Heat Pumps and Their Role in Decarbonising Heating Sector: A Comprehensive Review. ESRI WP627, June 2019

Addressing the growing concerns of climate change necessitates the decarbonisation of energy sectors globally. The heating sector is the largest energy end-use, accounting for almost half of the total energy consumption in most countries. This paper presents an extensive review of previous works on several aspects of heat pumps, including their role in the decarbonisation of the heating sector. In addition, we cover themes related to the recent technological advances of heat pumps as well as their roles in terms of adding flexibility to renewable-rich systems and carbon abatement. We also identify challenges and barriers for a significant uptake of heat pumps in various markets. Generally, as the share of renewables in the energy mix increases, heat pumps can play a role in addressing a multitude of problems induced by climate change. However, economic, regulatory, structural and infrastructural barriers exist, which may hinder heat pump integration rate

Dynamic Distribution System Reconfiguration Considering Distributed Renewable Energy Sources and Energy Storage Systems

Electric power systems are in state of transition as they attempt to evolve to meet new challenges provided by growing environmental concerns, increases in the penetration of distributed renewable energy sources (DRES) as well as the challenges associated with integrating new technologies to enable smart grids. New techniques to improve the electrical power system, including the distribution system, are thus needed. One such technique is dynamic distribution system reconfiguration (DNSR), which involves altering the network topology during operation, providing significant benefits regarding the increased integration of DRES. This paper lays out an improved model which aimed to optimize the system operation in a coordinated way, where DRES, energy storage systems (ESS) and DNSR are considered as well as the uncertainty of these resources. The objective function was modeled to incentivize the uptake of DRES by considering the cost of emissions to incentivize the decarbonization of the power system. Also, the switching costs were modeled to consider not only the switching, but also the cost of degradation of these mechanisms in the system operation. Two systems are used to validate the model, the IEEE 119-bus system, and a real system in São Miguel Island. The results of this paper show that using DNSR, DRES, and ESS can lead to a significant 59% reduction in energy demand through a 24-hour period. In addition, using these technologies results in a healthier, more efficient, and higher quality system. This shows the benefits of using a variety of smart grid technologies in a coordinated manner.© 2022 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Influence of Battery Energy Storage Systems on Transmission Grid Operation With a Significant Share of Variable Renewable Energy

The generation mix of Portugal now contains a significant amount of variable renewable energy sources (RES) and the amount of RES is expected to grow substantially. This has led to concerns being raised regarding the security of the supply of the Portuguese electric system as well as concerns relating to system inertia. Deploying and efficiently using various flexibility options is proposed as a solution to these concerns. Among these flexibility options proposed is the use of battery energy storage systems (BESSs) as well as relaxing system inertia constraints such as the system nonsynchronous penetration (SNSP). This article proposes a stochastic mixed-integer linear programming problem formulation, which examines the effects of deploying BESS in a power system. The model is deployed on a real-world test case and results show that the optimal use of BESS can reduce system costs by as much as 10% relative to a baseline scenario and the costs are reduced further when the SNSP constraint is relaxed. The amount of RES curtailment is also reduced with the increased flexibility of the power system through the use of BESS. Thus, the efficiency of the Portuguese transmission system is greatly increased by the use of flexibility measures, primarily the use of BESS.©2021 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

The benefits of low-carbon energy efficiency technology adoption for data centres

Economies are struggling to achieve a low-carbon transition while also fostering increased digitalisation. EU-level targets for renewable generation, emissions reduction and energy efficiency present a unique challenge for Ireland which features substantial intermittent renewable generation, limited district heating and data centres forecast to consume 37% of national electricity demand by 2028. This study quantifies the key private and public benefits associated with large-scale adoption of energy efficiency technology for data centre cooling. It considers technology that provides cooling to data centres, surplus hot water supply and electricity storage. A unique plant-level model informs a national forecast of data centre energy savings and estimates of hot water supply for use in district heating. National public benefits of adoption are quantified using a power systems model (ENGINE) of the Irish transmission system, subject to 2030 climate policy constraints. Results show that technology adoption could lower sectoral energy use by 26% and supply 12.40 TWh of hot water for a 4th generation district heating network. Technology adoption could reduce renewable electricity generation requirements by 6.92% and lower system-wide emissions by 3%. Results highlight the potential for technology adoption to deliver multiple benefits to private and public stakeholders

An Innovative Two-Level Model for Electric Vehicle Parking Lots in Distribution Systems with Renewable Energy

With the rapid growth of Electric Vehicles (EVs) in distribution systems, a new player, called EV parking lot operator (EV PLO), is emerging around the world. Furthermore, the integration of distributed generation in the distribution level, in particular, renewable energy sources (RESs), is leading to the establishment of various markets in distribution systems. On one hand, such PLOs aim at managing their EVs within their parking lots to participate in the distribution markets and to maximize their profits. On the other hand, a distribution system operator (DSO) seeks to minimize the system-wide cost while minimizing renewable power spillage and the side-effects of its intermittency. This interaction inspires the innovative two-level model proposed in this paper. In the first level, a new model is proposed for EV PLOs which models the EVs’ characteristics, including EV owners’ uncertainties, in a reasonably accurate manner. These PLOs are allowed to participate in energy, reserve and regulation distribution markets by optimally managing their EVs. In the second level, a new model is developed to ensure that the technical constraints in the distribution networks are met while minimizing the overall system cost. In addition, this work evaluates the effects of the penetration level and the placement of wind and solar PV on the offering strategies of EV parking lots, as well as on the overall performance of the distribution systems

Risk-based self-scheduling of Gencos in smart grids considering a new method for bilateral contracts

In this work, the self-scheduling problem of a power producer in smart grids is addressed using a stochastic programming approach. Different uncertainties are considered as price uncertainties, forced-outage of the unit as well as generation reallocation. The conditional value-at-risk index is used for modeling of risk. The markets considered in this study are bilateral contracts, day-ahead and ancillary services, including spinning reserve and regulation, and spot market decisions, while an incomplete competitive market is considered. In this sense, an innovative method for bilateral contracts is proposed to increase the profit of the market without ignoring any regulatory rules. The Monte Carlo method is implemented together with a reduction scenario process to generate scenarios

Prospects of a Meshed Electrical Distribution System Featuring Large-Scale Variable Renewable Power

Electrical distribution system operators (DSOs) are facing an increasing number of challenges, largely as a result of the growing integration of distributed energy resources (DERs), such as photovoltaic (PV) and wind power. Amid global climate change and other energy-related concerns, the transformation of electrical distribution systems (EDSs) will most likely go ahead by modernizing distribution grids so that more DERs can be accommodated. Therefore, new operational strategies that aim to increase the flexibility of EDSs must be thought of and developed. This action is indispensable so that EDSs can seamlessly accommodate large amounts of intermittent renewable power. One plausible strategy that is worth considering is operating distribution systems in a meshed topology. The aim of this work is, therefore, related to the prospects of gradually adopting such a strategy. The analysis includes the additional level of flexibility that can be provided by operating distribution grids in a meshed manner, and the utilization level of variable renewable power. The distribution operational problem is formulated as a mixed integer linear programming approach in a stochastic framework. Numerical results reveal the multi-faceted benefits of operating distribution grids in a meshed manner. Such an operation scheme adds considerable flexibility to the system and leads to a more efficient utilization of variable renewable energy source (RES)-based distributed generation