The global growth in electrification means grids everywhere are facing new opportunities as well as big challenges. Intermittent renewables, distributed energy generation, and the need to use every kWh as efficiently as possible means Distribution System Operators (DSO), in particular, must deploy optimisation solutions, and fast. Gridspertise provides state-of-the-art solutions for the digital transformation of electricity distribution networks. … [Read more...]
Cost vs Resilience: Europe’s sourcing strategy will shape the regional Hydrogen economy
The upcoming EU Hydrogen Bank pilot auction and trilogue discussions are focussing minds on the future of hydrogen. Jonas Lotze and Massimo Moser at TransnetBW and Janina Erb, Roman Flatau, Felix Greven and Max Labmayr at d-fine present the results of their modelling of two hydrogen sourcing scenarios: "Global Market" (GM) where the import of hydrogen into Europe is unrestricted, and "Energy Resilient Europe" (ERE) where almost all hydrogen is … [Read more...]
Spain: as Renewables rise, managing supply and demand is the next challenge
In May this year Spain reached a landmark day when it was powered 100% by renewables - solar, wind and hydroelectric power - from ten o'clock in the morning until seven o'clock in the evening. In four years the share of renewable energy generation rose from 37% to 50%, while non-renewables dropped from 62% to 49%. Its draft Law on Climate Change and Energy Transition targets 35% of renewable energy in final consumption by 2030 and 100% in the … [Read more...]
Europe’s grid bottlenecks are delaying its energy transition
***While you're here... REGISTER NOW for "REPowering the grid for Solar PV" with the Vice-President of Tauron, DG ENER C, Eurelectric and SolarPowerEurope - Online Wednesday September 20 from 11:00 to 12:15 CEST*** No amount of record sales and deployment in Europe of heat pumps, EVs, solar farms, wind turbines and all the rest will guarantee the region meeting its electrification targets if the grids aren’t ready to integrate them. As … [Read more...]
Hydropower’s full potential: emulator optimises designs and operations in real time
Hydropower plants are big and expensive. And no two plants are the same, located in different geographies. That makes it very hard to customise and test their design. Contrast that with other clean energy technologies like wind and solar, which are much easier to model, perfect, modularise and then deploy. As Caitlin McDermott-Murphy at NREL explains, it’s why researchers there are creating a hydropower plant emulator that tests designs and how … [Read more...]
Will U.S. become the Global Gas Market’s source of flexibility and security of supply?
The U.S. will take the lead in offering flexibility and security of supply to the global gas market, and at prices linked to its wholesale gas market, the most liquid in the world, argue Kong Chyong and Ira Joseph at the Center on Global Energy Policy. It’s because the U.S. leads in the three key sources of gas trade flexibility, critical to meeting unexpected supply and demand gaps: natural gas storage systems, spare capacity in production and … [Read more...]
Germany closes its last 3 nuclear reactors. Understanding the reasons why
Germany has a long history of being resistant to all things nuclear. No new commercial reactors have been built since 1989. By 2023, nuclear made up only 6% of its power mix. To meet its decarbonisation goals, the government is confident of its target to reach an 80% renewables share in electricity demand by 2030 without nuclear. Hence the shut-down of its last three reactors over the weekend. Yet nuclear supporters say that leaving the last six … [Read more...]
China’s electricity market design should choose from successes in Europe, UK, Australia, USA
China has made substantial initial progress in its electricity market reform, but it still faces an uphill struggle in promoting the consumption of renewables, resource allocation across provinces and regions, and unlocking demand side potential. To help choose the best solutions China could do well to look at the “Handbook on Electricity Markets”, says Daisy Chi at ECECP. The 600-page book looks at the current state of power markets around the … [Read more...]
EU electricity market reform: completing, not dismantling, the integration is the answer
Leonardo Meeus at the Florence School of Regulation explains why electricity market reform in the EU must be about completing the process of integration, not unwinding it. He breaks down his argument into five categories – Electricity Markets, Contracts for Difference (CfD) and Power Purchase Agreements (PPA), Capacity Remuneration Mechanisms (CRM), Energy Communities, and Demand-side Flexibility – and with each he defines their purpose, looks at … [Read more...]
Event summary: “45% RES by 2030: EU’s latest investment challenge to DSOs”
Sara Stefanini provides a written summary of our panel discussion held on Thursday June 30th 2022. It’s a full summary of the 90 minute discussion (including audience questions), but it begins conveniently with a summary of the highlights. Investment in and the modernisation of the electricity distribution grid is one the biggest challenges the EU has to overcome in the next decade. It’s a €400bn investment challenge by 2050 says Eurelectric, an … [Read more...]
4 ways to cut whole system electricity costs with flexible Demand Side Management
Right now, energy system costs are driven by generation capacity, infrastructure upgrades, network reinforcements, curtailment and constraint payments, and imbalance costs. What’s missing is the investment in a raft of demand side management assets that are ready to go but are not part of the market, therefore not rewarded, and therefore not being invested in. Laura Sandys at Energy Systems Catapult, writing for WEF, explains why flexibility must … [Read more...]
Manifesto: fit-for-purpose flexible grids for the clean electrification of Europe
The integration of new clean generation sources on top of the increase in electrification of industry, e-mobility, and heating and cooling means grid investment must be made a priority. Anything else will leave deployment-ready solutions waiting, slowing down the transition. The backdrop is that over one third of the EU’s grids are already more than 40 years old. Eurelectric has produced a manifesto, “Connecting The Dots”, that estimates … [Read more...]
Smart households in a high Renewables world: flexible, efficient, cheaper
Smart controls can enable household heating and EVs to interact flexibly with increasingly decentralised electricity generation. As renewables continue to be added to the energy mix, it will increase efficiency, reduce load, and save money. Marco Reiser and Karoline Steinbacher at Guidehouse summarise the challenges and opportunities, before looking at the SINTEG pilot in Germany. The main hurdles are technological (standardisation, interfaces, … [Read more...]
Intelligent, flexible Sector Coupling in cities can double the potential for Wind and Solar
This week the European Commission tabled the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) which should accelerate the decarbonisation of buildings. Buildings and cities play a key role in the energy transition. And the target high shares of variable renewable power supply will be much more easily achieved if the sectors using them display demand flexibility. In essence, that means using or storing the excess wind and solar generation … [Read more...]
Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings: how to start saving from day one
Edie Taylor, Rebecca Esau and John Matson at Rocky Mountain Institute explain how their report “Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings Made Easy” identifies simple, low-cost steps that produce immediate cost, energy, and carbon savings. As utilities evolve their pricing structures to encourage users to avoid peak times, building managers must ready themselves with the controls that will allow them to buy electricity when it is cheapest. Demand … [Read more...]