High resolution simulations of increased renewable penetration on Central European transmission grid

Abstract

High spatial and temporal resolution optimal power flow simulations of the 2013 and 2020 interconnected grid in Central Western Europe and Central Eastern Europe regions are undertaken to assess the impact of an increased penetration of renewables. In contrast to prior studies, the present work models the individual transmission lines and power plants within the two regions. It is shown that the planned 2020 developments of the AC grid reduce the mean loading of the grid from 34% to 24%. Most impacted are north-south lines in Germany. The planned developments of HVDC lines further reduce the loading on the AC grid to 22%, as the HVDC lines provide a low-loss transmission solution for the abundant wind energy in northern Germany. Physical loop flows in central Europe increase by 15% for planned 2020 penetration levels of renewables; however these loop flows are reduced by 15% with addition of German HVDC lines.

High Resolution Modeling of the Impacts of Exogenous Factors on Power Systems—Case Study of Germany

“…The formulations of renewable generation models that account for temporal and geographic variations and demand models that differentiate between the different end-use sectors are described in [15]. The adequacy of capacity in the planned upgrades to the grid in Germany for increases in the penetrations of renewables is examined in [16]. As described above, the present work extends these prior works by examining the impacts of exogenous factors on the individual components of large interconnected transmission systems.…”

“…The simulation tool that is used in this work is EnerPol, an integrated simulation framework that has been developed at the Laboratory for Energy Conversion since 2009, and that provides system-wide, bottom-to-top, assessments of power generation mix, electricity transmission infrastructure, and market performance, [14][15][16]. In [14], the development of the integrated approach for modeling geographically indexed production, transmission and demand for large-area power systems is described for the test case of Switzerland.…”

“…The Geographical Information System (GIS) database of the power systems infrastructure, which comprises all the substations, high-voltage transmission lines, transformers and power generators in Germany, was developed from publicly available sources [19]. Hourly chronological OPF simulations are carried out for the interconnected transmission system in Central Europe [16]. Detailed validations of historical simulations of interconnected Central European power system are presented by the authors in [20].…”

Validation study of an approximate 2014 European power‐flow model using PowerGAMA

“…Where equations (2)(3)(4)(5) are the constraints that delimit the variables. From the DC power flow equations [10], we have the power flow constraint (6), which describes the flow in the AC branches only.…”

Visualisation and Immersion Dome Experience for Inspired Participation

“…EnerPol is a system-wide, bottom-to-top framework for the assessment of power generation mix, electricity transmission infrastructure, market performance and the impact of policy. The EnerPol framework includes a high-resolution database, with more than 200 anthropological, geographical, climatic, regulatory and financial variables; this framework therefore allows for physical modelling of power generation and electricity transmission [24]. Due to the scientific approach the choice of locations with high wind energy potential development has a neutrality characteristic, which is an important aspect in the acceptance process.…”