Renewable Energy Integration

Practical Management of Variability, Uncertainty, and Flexibility in Power Grids

Lawrence E. Jones

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9780128097687
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Renewable Power Resources
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Renewable Energy Integration: Practical Management of Variability, Uncertainty, and Flexibility in Power Grids, Second Edition, offers a distilled examination of the intricacies of integrating renewables into power grids and electricity markets. It offers informed perspectives from internationally renowned experts on related challenges and solutions based on demonstrated best practices developed by operators around the world. The book's focus on practical implementation of strategies provides real-world context for the theoretical underpinnings and the development of supporting policy frameworks. The second edition considers myriad integration issues, thus ensuring that grid operators with low or high penetration of renewable generation can leverage the best practices achieved by their peers. It includes revised chapters from the first edition as well as new chapters.

• Lays out the key issues around the integration of renewables into power grids and markets, from the intricacies of operational and planning considerations to supporting regulatory and policy frameworks.
• Provides updated global case studies that highlight the challenges of renewables integration and present field-tested solutions and new Forewords from Europe, United Arab Emirates, and United States.
• Illustrates technologies to support the management of variability, uncertainty, and flexibility in power grids.

Part 1

Policy and Regulation

Outline

Chapter 1. The Journey of Reinventing the European Electricity Landscape

Chapter 2. Policies for Accommodating Higher Penetration of Variable Energy Resources (VERs)—U.S. Outlook and Perspectives

Chapter 3. Harnessing and Integrating Africa's Renewable Energy Resources

Chapter 1

The Journey of Reinventing the European Electricity Landscape

Helena Lindquist Company Director and Founder of LightSwitch

Abstract

Following far-reaching policy initiatives by the European Union in 2009, electricity production from renewable energy sources is rapidly increasing as European countries are working to meet the 2020 targets of the European Renewable Energy Directive. Integration of renewables in European electrical power grids presents an urgent and multifaceted challenge for policy makers and sector stakeholders requiring coordinated measures for grid upgrades, development of grid codes, and radical reform of electricity markets.

Keywords

EU policy; Grid integration; Renewable energy

1. Background

Energy has been at the core of the European integration project from the very start. Unity over energy through the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) of the early 1950s laid the foundation for wider political integration and constituted an important corner stone of the European Community (EC), which in the 1990s developed into the European Union.

The oil crisis of 1973 became an important wake-up call for Europe. The dependency on energy imports from OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) exposed the vulnerability of the economy to external events beyond the political control of European nation states. Increasingly, concern was also growing for the effect of the fossil-based energy system on the environment and its link to global climate change. This prompted some pioneering countries in Europe to invest in research to develop wind and solar power technologies, most notably Denmark and Germany.

In the middle of the 1980s, the EC began developing policies aimed at reducing oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions while promoting the use of renewable energy (henceforth referred to as RE) for electricity, heating/cooling, and transport. In 1997 the European Commission published a White Paper [1] calling for the community to source 12% of its total energy, including 22% of electricity from renewables by 2010. However, these targets were nonbinding and did not give the market enough confidence to make the necessary investments. The far-reaching Renewable Energy Roadmap [2] published by the European Commission in 2007, which was later enacted in the EU climate and energy package of 2009, kick-started real growth in the RE sector, most notably in wind and solar power. The often cited 20-20-20 targets of the EU Renewable Energy Directive [3] form the core of the legislative framework and consist of three main pillars: (1) a binding target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020 based on 1990 levels; (2) a binding target to increase the amount of energy consumption originating from renewable sources to 20% by 2020; and (3) a nonbinding target to improve energy efficiency by 20% in relation to projections for 2020. The EU Directive meant that the Union committed to reaching these targets as a collective. These were then divided into separate targets in National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs) for individual member states, taking into account their respective starting points and potential. The drivers behind this significant policy initiative were not only the concern for the growing threat of climate change, but equally important were geopolitical considerations about security of supply and the dependency of foreign imports of oil and gas, not least affecting the EU's vulnerable relationship with Russia.

In the 2015 progress report [4], the European Commission proudly states that the Renewable Energy Directive has become the “key driver for European led global investment in renewable technologies and supportive renewable energy policies far beyond Europe's frontiers helping renewables emerge as a cost-competitive energy source in the last decade in Europe and on global scale.” According to the report, the majority of member states are well on track to meet their individual targets and the Commission is confident that the EU as a whole will reach the 2020 target. About a third of the 28 member states have already reached the targets several years ahead, e.g., Sweden (with the EU's highest RE share, 53% in 2014). Several member states are struggling however, including the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Hungary, and Poland. Given persistent market barriers and a steeper slope of the trajectory toward 2020, there are doubts about whether current policies and tools are sufficient and effective enough to ensure they will reach their individual national targets.

A 2014 independent mid-term evaluation [5] indicates that the Directive with its binding national targets, the NREAPs and biennial monitoring, has been effective in achieving its objectives. The legal obligation on member states, the quality of information, and transparency on RE market development and member state policies have been important to ensure relative investor confidence in the sector. The evaluation states, however, that the implementation at Member State level could be significantly improved.

Approaching the target year 2020 the polemic discussion about the post-2020 policy framework has been intensifying at all levels in European politics, among stakeholders in the power sector as well as in society at large. In October 2014, after much heated debate, EU leaders finally agreed [6] on three key targets for year 2030, building on the 2020 climate and energy package. These were (1) at least 40% cuts in greenhouse gas emissions (from 1990 levels), (2) at least 27% share for RE, and (3) at least 27% improvement in energy efficiency. The RE industry was generally not impressed by the EU's level of ambition, especially in light of the urgency of the unfolding climate crisis and the inherent economic regeneration potential of the European RE sector. As with most other EU decisions, it was a hard-fought compromise between 28 countries representing radically different starting points, and also some diverging worldviews in regard to energy.

2. The Energy Union

The European Commission has recognized that market stakeholders need clarity regarding the long-term policy framework to be able to invest in new energy infrastructure. However, due to the stark differences between member states in terms of their energy situation, challenges, and ambitions, it is not easy to find solutions that are acceptable to all parties. Arguably, the current policy design is not sufficient to significantly progress the European energy transition and target serious market failures. In response to these challenges, the European Commission launched in February 2015 “A Framework Strategy for a Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy” [7], henceforth referred to as the Energy Union. It has been presented and regarded by many as an important European flagship policy, with potential to render benefits to the Union reaching far beyond the energy sector per se. During the last decade, following the enlargement of the Union from 15 to 28 members, the EU has experienced several crises, including persistent economic decline in many countries (peaking with the near bankruptcy of the Greek economy) and a growing public disenchantment with the very idea of European integration. The disagreement and lack of solidarity between member states in response to the massive influx of refugees fleeing the war in Syria, and right-wing populist leaders gaining influence in country after country have also created serious tension between European countries. Lately, the UK decision to leave the EU, “Brexit,” has added further question marks regarding the future of European integration.

Despite the fact that energy has been part of the equation ever since the start of European integration in the 1950s, progress has been slow and it has been hard to find Europe-wide consensus against the interests of member state sovereignty, and strong state energy utilities resisting market liberalization. Given the difficult period for European integration, and the enormous potential in collaborating more closely in energy matters, the Energy Union has been hailed as one of the most important policy areas, which could, if handled well, reinvigorate confidence in the European project as a whole. Indeed, closer cooperation in the energy area brings considerable added value to member states to tackle issues that every individual state would be hard placed to handle on their own, such as concerns over security of supply, the pressure to decarbonize, etc. In addition, it has the potential to indirectly promote socioeconomic cohesion and solidarity within and between EU countries.

The overarching goal of the Energy Union strategy is to “give EU consumers, households, and businesses, secure, sustainable, competitive, and affordable energy” and contains five ...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Praise for the Second Edition of Renewable Energy Integration
• Praise for the First Edition of Renewable Energy Integration
• Dedication
• About the Editor
• About the Contributors
• Foreword from the USA
• Foreword from Europe
• Foreword from United Arab Emirates
• Foreword from Europe (First Edition)
• Foreword from the USA (First Edition)
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part 1. Policy and Regulation
• Part 2. Modeling of Variable Energy Resources
• Part 3. Variable Energy Resources in Power System and Market Operations
• Part 4. Forecasting Renewables
• Part 5. Connecting Renewable Energy to Power Grids
• Part 6. System Flexibility
• Part 7. Demand Response and Distributed Energy Resources
• Part 8. Energy Storage
• Part 9. Variable Energy Resources in Island Power Systems
• Part 10. Solar Energy Integration
• Part 11. Enabling and Disruptive Technologies for Renewable Integration
• Future Outlook
• Index