Economics of Sector Coupling

This chapter presents an introduction on the main characteristics of sector coupling, which is often referred to with P2X, where “X” may stand for various applications, such as gas (G), heat (H), vehicles (V) or others. The common feature of these technologies is to provide additional flexibility to the power grid by the integration with other energy networks or sectors, converting electricity into other energy carriers. Sector coupling is still an emerging concept, with its first applications being deployed to exploit the electricity excess from variable renewable sources in specific contexts, but with difficulties in achieving competitive returns due to the limited annual capacity factors. However, decreasing investment costs and increasing needs of long-term electricity storage solutions may trigger an interest in sector coupling technologies

Economics of Electricity Battery Storage

This chapter deals with the challenges and opportunities of energy storage, with a specific focus on the economics of batteries for storing electricity in the framework of the current energy transition. Storage technologies include a variety of solutions that have been used for different grid services, including frequency control, load following, and uninterrupted power supply. A recent interest is being triggered by the increasing grid balance requirements to integrate variable renewable sources and distributed generation. In parallel, lithium-ion batteries are experiencing a strong market expansion driven by an uptake of electric vehicles worldwide, which is leading to a strong decrease of production costs, making Li-ion batteries an attractive solution also for stationary storage applications

Wood biomass CHP in district heating systems: simulation and operation analysis

This research work is focused on the development of a simulation model for the operational analysis of wood biomass CHP (combined heat and power) units supplying district heating systems. The integrated approach that has been adopted offers the possibility of considering the effect of each system component during the different operation conditions that can occur during the year. The aim of the model is to provide a support for different situations: the design of the components of the system, the analysis of real operation to match the requested performance and the local energy planning considering the effects of the actual behaviour of those systems throughout the year. The model has been improved thanks to an analysis of real operation data, both on demand side and on supply side. The heat demand from different district heating systems has been investigated, by analysing the main differences and analogies with respect to size and climate conditions. Considering the supply side, two different ORC systems have been analysed over some years of operation with an hourly time step. These data analysis has pointed out the significant variations that can occur in DH systems when the actual operation conditions are different than the ones forecast in the system design. The model has been used for a case study analysis to assess the optimum size of a CHP unit coupled to a heat storage system in an existing district heating network. An economic analysis has been performed in order to evaluate the current Italian incentive framework for RES (renewable energy sources) plants. A difference has been found between the optimal energetic layouts and the best economic solutions, showing that the current incentives still not promote the most efficient solutions for energy production from wood biomass

Cross-Country Comparison of Hourly Electricity Mixes for EV Charging Profiles

Electric vehicles, when coupled to electricity generation from renewable energy sources, can become a viable solution to decarbonize the transport sector. However, given the high variability of electricity mixes on a daily and seasonal basis, high-resolution profiles are needed for a precise analysis of the impacts of electric vehicles in terms of greenhouse gases emissions. This paper presents a comparison of different charging profiles evaluated on 10 European countries over four years, to highlight the effects of national electricity mixes and of the type of charging location on the specific emissions of EVs charging. This study, based on three archetypal charging profiles, provide a quantification of the potential influence of different charging strategies on the average emission factor of the electricity supplied to electric vehicles. The results show that the variability related to charging profiles is generally limited, with an average variation range of 6% for any given country and year, while in several countries the variability from one year to another is much larger, with an average range of 18% for any given country and charging profile

Towards the electrification of buildings heating - Real heat pumps electricity mixes based on high resolution operational profiles

The energy transition driven by the need of a deep decarbonization to limit the world temperature rise requires coordinated actions across the whole energy sector. Among other measures, the strong development of renewable energy sources in the power sector is gaining momentum in different parts of the world. The possibility of producing low-carbon electricity leads to a renovated interest in increasing electricity penetration in final sectors, especially in transport and buildings heating. However, a large share of renewable electricity comes from non-dispatchable sources, notably wind and solar PV, and their daily and seasonal variability needs to be matched with the demand profiles of those sectors. In particular, the charge of electric vehicles shows a relatively constant demand on a seasonal basis while attention must be paid on the daily operational logic to fully exploit available power from solar and/or wind. On the other hand, the operation of heat pumps for building heating shows a strong seasonality that may be an issue in countries that have a larger renewable production during summer. This research work is focusing on this specific issue, with the aim of improving the common practice of evaluating energy consumption and emissions on an annual basis, thanks to a detailed analysis based on hourly time-step, both for the electricity generation mix and for the heat pumps demand. To increase the significance of the results, different countries across Europe have been analyzed and compared

Energy Consumption Data as a Decision-making Tool for Energy Efficient Interventions in PA: The Case-study of Turin

European Directive 2012/27 states that Public Administration (PA) of member states must retrofit at least 3% of the useful area per year until 2020 for reducing their energy consumptions. On the other hand, the need for retrofitting PA owned buildings crashes with budget constraints and the necessity to guarantee services at all the time. For these reasons, when considering large publicly owned building stocks it is fundamental to establish prioritizing methodologies that help decision makers to address investments properly and efficiently. The present work considers the City of Turin as a case study for establishing a methodology to analyze the energy consumption data of a large buildings stock in terms of space heating, DHW and electricity needs. The first part of the work analyzed the stock as a whole, providing useful reference values for specific energy consumptions for different building categories (offices and schools in particular) and providing a tool for investments prioritization. In the second part, five buildings have been analyzed in detail collecting full historical data about electricity and thermal energy consumption. The union between data analysis and focused on-site inspections has allowed individuating specific inefficiencies in the energy-related facilities of the buildings. A preliminary economic analysis has been also assessed to show the strong energy and cost-saving potentials of simple low-cost actions aimed at the reduction of energy consumptions in PA owned buildings

Operational analysis of natural gas combined cycle CHP plants: energy performance and pollutant emissions

The natural gas-fired combined cycle (NGCC) plants are among the best technologies for power production, especially when operating in combined heat and power (CHP) generation feeding a district heating (DH) network. Even if usually designed to operate with very high utilization factors, thus satisfying mainly the base load, nowadays these plants are often used also as backup power. This is due mainly to the necessity to compensate the nonprogrammable renewable energy sources (RES) production, and it can be done, thanks to the good flexibility of these plants. However, in off-design conditions, the energy performance and the pollutant emissions may not be as good as the expected nominal ones. In this paper, the real operation of three NGCC units has been analysed in detail by considering mean hourly data over several years. A gas turbine efficiency curve at partial loads has been obtained, showing a decrease of conversion efficiency at lower unit loads. The CO emissions during the start-up and shut-down procedures of the plant reached values that are some orders of magnitude higher than in normal operation. This criticality should not be forgotten when using these units for frequent on-off operations

Representative meat consumption pathways for sub-Saharan Africa and their local and global energy and environmental implications

In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) most people live on plant-dominated diets, with significantly lower levels of per-capita meat consumption than in any other region. Yet, economic development has nearly everywhere spurred a shift to dietary regimes with a greater consumption of meat, albeit with regional heterogeneity for meat-type and magnitude. A growing regional economy, changing cultural attitudes, and a steeply increasing population could thus push the regional demand upward in the coming decades, with significant depletion of regional and global natural resources and environmental repercussions. We study the historical association of the four main meat types with demand drivers in recently developed countries via seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) equation systems. Using the calibrated coefficients, trajectories of meat consumption in SSA to 2050 are projected relying on the SSP scenarios over GDP and population growth. Then, using a Leontiefian environmentally extended input-output (EEIO) framework exploiting the EXIOBASE3 database, we estimate the related energy, land, and water requirements, and the implied greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4, N2O) emissions. We calculate that if production to meet those consumption levels takes place in the continent – compared to the current situation – global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions would grow by 230 Mt CO2e (4.4% of today’s global agriculture-related emissions), the land required for cropping and grazing would require additional 4.2 · 10^6 km2 (more than half of the total arable land in SSA), total blue water consumption would rise by 10,300 Mm3 (0.89% of the global total), and additional 1.2 EJ of energy (6% of today’s total primary energy demand in the region) would be required. Alternative scenarios where SSA is a net importer of final meat products are reported for comparison. The local policy and attitudes towards farming practices and dietary choices will have significant impact on both the regional environment and global GHG emissions

Evaluating the Emissions of the Heat Supplied by District Heating Networks through A Life Cycle Perspective

The Life Cycle Assessment methodology has proven to be effective in evaluating the impacts of goods production throughout its life cycle. While many studies are available on specific products, in recent years a growing interest is related to the analysis of services, including energy supply for final customers. Different LCA evaluations are available for electricity, while the heating and cooling sector has not yet been properly investigated. The objective of this study is the analysis of the specific impacts of the heat supplied to the final users connected to a district heating system, in comparison with traditional individual natural gas boilers, which represent the baseline heating solution in several urban contexts in Europe. The results show that the comparison is heavily dependent on the allocation method used for combined heat and power plant production. District Heating impact on heat supplied to the users can vary from 0.10 to 0.47 kgCO2eq/kWh, while distributed natural gas boilers present an overall impact equal to 0.27 kgCO2eq/kW

Li-Ion Batteries: A Review of a Key Technology for Transport Decarbonization

Lithium ion batteries are experiencing an increased success thanks to their interesting performances, in particular for electric vehicles applications. Their continuous technological improvements in the last years are providing higher energy density and lower manufacturing costs. However, the environmental performance of their supply chain is of paramount importance to guarantee a cleaner alternative to fossil-based solutions on the entire life cycle of the applications. This paper carries out a comprehensive review on the main aspects related to Li-ion batteries manufacturing, to support the readers in understanding the complexity of the subject and the main challenges and opportunities for the future developments of this technology. The paper discusses the expected future demand of batteries; the main aspects related to the supply chain, including existing assets, input materials and alternative technologies; the end-of-life of batteries; the environmental impacts; and the main geopolitical implications