Britain’s Evolving and Decarbonising Electricity System Where Change is Nothing New

CO2 Intensities and Primary Energy Factors in the Future European Electricity System

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14082165 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (8) ◽

pp. 2165

Author(s):

Sam Hamels

Keyword(s):

Co2 Emissions ◽

Energy Use ◽

Conversion Factor ◽

Unit Commitment ◽

Primary Energy ◽

High Temporal Resolution ◽

The European Union ◽

Electricity System ◽

Energy Factors ◽

Electrical Loads

The European Union strives for sharp reductions in both CO2 emissions as well as primary energy use. Electricity consuming technologies are becoming increasingly important in this context, due to the ongoing electrification of transport and heating services. To correctly evaluate these technologies, conversion factors are needed—namely CO2 intensities and primary energy factors (PEFs). However, this evaluation is hindered by the unavailability of a high-quality database of conversion factor values. Ideally, such a database has a broad geographical scope, a high temporal resolution and considers cross-country exchanges of electricity as well as future evolutions in the electricity mix. In this paper, a state-of-the-art unit commitment economic dispatch model of the European electricity system is developed and a flow-tracing technique is innovatively applied to future scenarios (2025–2040)—to generate such a database and make it publicly available. Important dynamics are revealed, including an overall decrease in conversion factor values as well as considerable temporal variability at both the seasonal and hourly level. Furthermore, the importance of taking into account imports and carefully considering the calculation methodology for PEFs are both confirmed. Future estimates of the CO2 emissions and primary energy use associated with individual electrical loads can be meaningfully improved by taking into account these dynamics.

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Barriers to flexibility in the district energy-electricity system interface – A taxonomy

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews ◽

10.1016/j.rser.2021.111007 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 145 ◽

pp. 111007

Author(s):

Daniel Møller Sneum

Keyword(s):

District Energy ◽

Electricity System

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PyPSA-VN: An open model of the Vietnamese electricity system

2020 5th International Conference on Green Technology and Sustainable Development (GTSD) ◽

10.1109/gtsd50082.2020.9303096 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Markus Schlott ◽

Bruno Schyska ◽

Dinh Thanh Viet ◽

Vo Van Phuong ◽

Duong Minh Quan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Open Model ◽

Electricity System

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To Represent Electric Vehicles in Electricity Systems Modelling—Aggregated Vehicle Representation vs. Individual Driving Profiles

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14030539 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (3) ◽

pp. 539

Author(s):

Maria Taljegard ◽

Lisa Göransson ◽

Mikael Odenberger ◽

Filip Johnsson

Keyword(s):

Electric Vehicles ◽

Investment Model ◽

Research Issues ◽

Charging Infrastructure ◽

Vehicle To Grid ◽

Long Term Storage ◽

Electricity System ◽

Home Location ◽

The Individual ◽

Storage Technologies

This study describes, applies, and compares three different approaches to integrate electric vehicles (EVs) in a cost-minimising electricity system investment model and a dispatch model. The approaches include both an aggregated vehicle representation and individual driving profiles of passenger EVs. The driving patterns of 426 randomly selected vehicles in Sweden were recorded between 30 and 73 days each and used as input to the electricity system model for the individual driving profiles. The main conclusion is that an aggregated vehicle representation gives similar results as when including individual driving profiles for most scenarios modelled. However, this study also concludes that it is important to represent the heterogeneity of individual driving profiles in electricity system optimisation models when: (i) charging infrastructure is limited to only the home location in regions with a high share of solar and wind power in the electricity system, and (ii) when addressing special research issues such as impact of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) on battery health status. An aggregated vehicle representation will, if the charging infrastructure is limited to only home location, over-estimate the V2G potential resulting in a higher share (up to 10 percentage points) of variable renewable electricity generation and an under-estimation of investments in both short- and long-term storage technologies.

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