30 research outputs found
From passive to active: Flexibility from electric vehicles in the context of transmission system development
Electrification of transport in RES-based power system will support the
decarbonisation of the transportsector. However, due to the increase in energy
demand and the large peak effects of charging, the passiveintegration of
electric cars is likely to undermine sustainability efforts. This study
investigates three differentcharging strategies for electric vehicle in Europe
offering various degrees of flexibility: passive charging,smart charging and
vehicle-to-grid, and puts this flexibility in perspective with the flexibility
offered byinterconnections. We use the Balmorel optimization tool to represent
the short-term dispatch and long-terminvestment in the energy system and we
contribute to the state-of-the-art in developing new methodologiesto represent
home charging and battery degradation. Our results show how each step of
increased chargingflexibility reduces system costs, affects energy mix, impacts
spot prices and reduces CO2 emissions untilthe horizon 2050. We quantify how
flexible charging and variable generation mutually support each other(¿100TWh
from wind and solar energy in 2050) and restrict the business case for
stationary batteries, whereaspassive charging results in a substitution of wind
by solar energy. The comparison of each charging schemewith and without
interconnection expansion highlights the interplay between European countries
in terms ofelectricity prices and CO2 emissions in the context of electrified
transport. Although the best outcome isreached under the most flexible scenario
at the EU level, the situation of the countries with the cheapest andmost
decarbonised electricity mix is damaged, which calls for adapted coordination
policy at the EU level
Demand during peak hours versus peak-driving demand: Revisiting one size fits all dynamic grid tariffs
Electricity grid tariffs should reflect network costs in order to provide
efficient incentives for timing electricity use and investment in new
technologies. We compare tariff designs that deal with existing and expected
future grid congestion. Although common volumetric tariff designs such as
Time-Of-Use are partly cost-reflective, their designs have fundamental
drawbacks in terms of the principles of cost allocations and potentially may
lead to social disparities. In a case study of 1.56 million Danish households
divided into 90 socio-techno-economic categories, we compare three alternative
grid tariffs and investigate their impact on annual electricity bills. This
study shows that penalizing consumption above a certain threshold leads to
higher costs for owners of electric vehicles regardless of the timing of their
consumption. In contrast, penalizing consumption during system peaks mainly
affects the electricity bills of heat pump owners. The results of our design
simultaneously applying a time-dependent threshold and a system peak tariff
show (a) a range of different allocations that distribute the burden of
additional grid costs across both technologies and (b) strong positive
outcomes, including reduced expenses for lower-income groups and smaller
households. Our study offers policymakers a menu that assigns grid costs to
demand technologies, thereby giving them valuable input.Comment: 30 pages, 18 figures, journal articl
Variability in electricity consumption by category of consumer: the impact on electricity load profiles
Residential electrification of transport and heat is changing consumption and
its characteristics significantly. Previous studies have demonstrated the
impact of socio-techno-economic determinants on residential consumption.
However, they fail to capture the distributional characteristics of such
consumer groups, which impact network planning and flexibility assessment.
Using actual residential electricity consumption profile data for 720,000
households in Denmark, we demonstrate that heat pumps are more likely to
influence aggregated peak consumption than electric vehicles. At the same time,
other socio-economic factors, such as occupancy, dwelling area and income, show
little impact. Comparing the extrapolation of a comprehensive rollout of heat
pumps or electric vehicles indicates that the most common consumer category
deploying heat pumps has 14% more maximum consumption during peak load hours,
46% more average consumption and twice the higher median compared to households
owning an electric vehicle. Electric vehicle show already flexibility with
coincidence factors that ranges between 5-15% with a maximum of 17% whereas
heat pumps are mostly baseload. The detailed and holistic outcomes of this
study support flexibility assessment and grid planning in future studies but
also the operation of flexible technologies.Comment: 37 pages, 18 figures, journal articl