Curtailment in a Highly Renewable Power System and Its Effect on Capacity Factors

The Potential of Wind Power-Supported Geothermal District Heating Systems—Model Results for a Location in Warsaw (Poland)

Geothermal heat is considered a sustainable energy source with significant global potential. Together with heat distribution networks, it can provide clean thermal energy to individual and commercial consumers. However, peaks in heat demand can require additional peaking sources at times. In this paper, we investigated how wind turbines can act as a peak energy source for a geothermal district heating system. We studied a model consisting of a geothermal heat source, a heat storage and wind power generator using historical weather data of Warsaw (Poland) and showed that wind power could increase the renewable share to supply a considerable heat demand compared to a geothermal heat source alone. The results indicate that wind power can be a suitable complement for a geothermal heat source to provide energy for heating. It is shown that a theoretical geo-wind-thermal storage based district heating network supplying 1000 m2, which requires 100 W/m2 at an outdoor temperature of −20 °C should have the following parameters: 4.8 MWh of thermal energy storage capacity, 45 kW of geothermal capacity and 5 kW of wind capacity. Such a system would ensure minimal wind curtailment, high utilization of geothermal source and high reliability of supply.

Capacity Market Implementation in Poland: Analysis of a Survey on Consequences for the Electricity Market and for Energy Management

The power sector is currently experiencing a dynamic transformation, resulting not only from EU directives, but also from current problems, mainly related to ensuring energy security for customers. For this reason, in Poland, it was decided that the model of electricity market operation needed to be changed. A dual market has been created, and a separated segment is the capacity market. This solution operates, in addition to other power mechanisms, in many European Union countries, e.g., in France, Great Britain, and Italy. The experience of these countries indicates the positive impact of the power market on various aspects of the power sector, such as legal, economic, technical and technological, social, and infrastructural aspects, mainly due to technological neutrality and open competition between power suppliers. The creation of the structure of an energy market drastically changes the rules of energy management, which requires investigations concerning the impact of those factors on the energy sector in Poland. The aim of this work is to examine the impact of the power market on the Polish power sector, and to determine the impact of individual consequences on several predefined areas. For this purpose, a questionnaire survey was used. The purpose of a detailed analysis is to develop probable scenarios for the sustainable development of the Polish energy sector.

The smoothing effect for renewable resources in an Afro-Eurasian power grid

Abstract. Renewable power systems have to cope with highly variable generation. Increasing the spatial extent of an interconnected power transmission grid smooths the feed-in by exchange of excess energy over long distances and therefore supports renewable power integration. In this work, we investigate and quantify the balancing potential of a supergrid covering Europe, Africa and Asia. We use ten years of historical weather data to model the interplay of renewable generation and consumption and show that a pan-continental Afro-Eurasian supergrid can smooth renewable generation to a large extent and reduce the need for backup energy by around 50 %. In addition, we show that results for different weather years vary by up to approximately 50 %.

Weather dependent estimation of continent-wide wind power generation based on spatio-temporal clustering

Abstract. Europe is facing the challenge of increasing shares of energy from variable renewable sources. Furthermore, it is heading towards a fully integrated electricity market, i.e. a Europe-wide electricity system. The stable operation of this large-scale renewable power system requires detailed information on the amount of electricity being transmitted now and in the future. To estimate the actual amount of electricity, upscaling algorithms are applied. Those algorithms – until now – however, only exist for smaller regions (e.g. transmission zones and single wind farms). The aim of this study is to introduce a new approach to estimate Europe-wide wind power generation based on spatio-temporal clustering. We furthermore show that training the upscaling model for different prevailing weather situations allows to further reduce the number of reference sites without losing accuracy.