19th session of seminars on research in energy economics at paris-sciences-lettres
Abstract
LARGE SCALE DEVELOPMENT OF VARIABLE RENEWABLES IN ELECTRICITY MARKETS: STATIC AND DYNAMIC EFFECTS ON THE SYSTEM
PROGRAMME AND PRESENTATIONS
The Seminar on Research in Energy Economics at Paris-Sciences-Lettres (PSL) is jointly organized by the CERNA (MINES PARIS TECH), the CGEMP (Université Paris-Dauphine), the Chaire European Electricity Markets (Université Paris-Dauphine), and i3 (l’Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation), members of PSL. It is animated by François LEVEQUE (MINES PARIS TECH), Dominique FINON (Chaire European Electricity Markets, CNRS-CIRED) and Patrice GEOFFRON (Director, CGEMP, Université Paris-Dauphine).
Marco COMETTO, Senior Analyst, OECD-AEN
System costs of large scale development of variable renewables generation: building an assessment methodology
Presentation
This presentation will focus on the methodology adopted by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency for estimating the effects of the introduction of large share of variable renewables in the electricity system. We will also discuss an approach for estimating the economic value and the optimal penetration level of renewables in a generation system.
(From the 2013 OECD-Nuclear Energy Agency report Nuclear Energy and Renewables: System Effects in Low-carbon Electricity Systems co-authored by Marco Cometto and Jan-Horst Keppler).
Jonas EGERER, Research fellow at the DIW (Berlin)
Power System Transformation toward Renewables: the Modelling of Investment Scenarios for Germany
Presentation
The exogenous introduction of variable renewables at large scale in an electricity system upsets short term and long term optimization parameters of the system. We analyze distinctive investment scenarios for the integration of fluctuating renewables in the German power system. Using a combined model for dispatch, transmission, and investment, three different investment options are considered, including gas-fired power plants, pumped hydro storage, and transmission lines. We find that geographically optimized power plant investments dominate in the reference scenarios for 2024 and 2034. In scenarios with decreased renewable curtailment, storage and transmission requirements significantly increase. In an alternative scenario with larger investments into storage, system costs are only slightly higher compared to the reference; thus, considering potential system values of pumped hydro storage facilities, a moderate expansion of storage capacities appears to be a no-regret strategy from a system perspective. In the long run, infrastructure investments gain importance in the context of an ongoing energy transition from coal to renewables. Because of long lead times, planning and administrative procedures for large-scale projects should start early.
