Active distribution grids in European large-scale Multi Energy System Model

Abstract

Planning of infrastructure is rather a matter of decades than years. Thus, even though the target years 2045+ seem far away, it is of significant importance to start planning the energy transition to a carbon emission free system today. In addition, new required technologies still need time for technical development until they are ready for the market. The key to zero emissions across all energy sectors in 2045+ lays in the reduction of the final energy consumption while increasing the share of electricity of the primary energy sources, as most of the renewable energy sources (RES), mainly photovoltaic (PV) and wind, provide electricity. As their infeed is highly fluctuating, an interlinked energy system will enable to better cope with flexibility and even store surplus energy over a longer period of time, e.g. by linking the power system to hydrogen, heat or gas system. In response, this helps to decarbonize these sectors. Hence, the individual sectors should no longer be considered on their own but rather together in an integrated manner. In consequence, expansions of energy infrastructures such as gas pipelines or power transmission lines need to be planned on an integrated level to outweigh their overall value across the interlinked sectors. In sum, this imposes the need for multi- energy system (MES) models that capture the interactions between several energy carriers and are able to plan the composition of the future energy system. Planning over the entire transition pathway requires special attention on the model choice as the value of infrastructures can only be assessed by models that run on high temporal and spatial resolutions. In addition, a yearly dispatch horizon is required to quantify the impacts on seasonal variations. Altogether, this requires to solve large-scale optimization problems. Therefore, it is crucial to bring their computational complexity to a manageable level by finding tractable formulations.

Planning of infrastructure is rather a matter of decades than years. Thus, even though the target years 2045+ seem far away, it is of significant importance to start planning the energy transition to a carbon emission free system today. In addition, new required technologies still need time for technical development until they are ready for the market. The key to zero emissions across all energy sectors in 2045+ lays in the reduction of the final energy consumption while increasing the share of electricity of the primary energy sources, as most of the renewable energy sources (RES), mainly photovoltaic (PV) and wind, provide electricity. As their infeed is highly fluctuating, an interlinked energy system will enable to better cope with flexibility and even store surplus energy over a longer period of time, e.g. by linking the power system to hydrogen, heat or gas system. In response, this helps to decarbonize these sectors. Hence, the individual sectors should no longer be considered on their own but rather together in an integrated manner. In consequence, expansions of energy infrastructures such as gas pipelines or power transmission lines need to be planned on an integrated level to outweigh their overall value across the interlinked sectors. In sum, this imposes the need for multi- energy system (MES) models that capture the interactions between several energy carriers and are able to plan the composition of the future energy system. Planning over the entire transition pathway requires special attention on the model choice as the value of infrastructures can only be assessed by models that run on high temporal and spatial resolutions. In addition, a yearly dispatch horizon is required to quantify the impacts on seasonal variations. Altogether, this requires to solve large-scale optimization problems. Therefore, it is crucial to bring their computational complexity to a manageable level by finding tractable formulations.