Frans Nieuwenhout

Characterization of Li-Ion Batteries for Intelligent Management of Distributed Grid-Connected Storage

Grid-connected electrical storage has a high potential to support the transition toward a reliable decentralized and renewable energy supply. It is expected that lithium-ion batteries will play a major role in this transition, because of their high energy density and of the potential capacity that is offered by plug-in (hybrid) electric vehicles. The use of lithium-ion batteries in grid support may result in additional degradation. Intelligent control of these batteries can assure that the additional degradation rate is minimized and their utilization is cost-effective. It is, therefore, imperative that the intelligent control has an excellent understanding of the aging behavior of the battery, therefore, it can maximize the benefits for the battery owner. Based on this logic, cycle life experiments were performed on lithium polymer cells in which the cell life dependence on the depth of discharge was investigated. Other cell characteristics that were studied include the equivalent series resistance and the efficiency.

European scenario synthesis to be used for electricity transmission network planning

The EU research project IRENE-40 aims at the development of a roadmap for the European and Pan-European transmission networks for the next 40 years (until 2050). In addition to the know-how which technologies can be applied to solve transmission problems in the near and far future, an evaluation of the future generation and load scenarios is necessary. For this purpose five scenarios have been developed: BUSINESS AS USUAL (BAU) - RENEWABLE (RES) - DESERTEC (DES) - CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE (CCS) - HIGH EFFICIENCY (EFFICIENCY). In these demand-and generation scenarios the share of renewable, the penetration of Carbon Capture and Storage and the level of electricity demand vary widely. The reasoning behind the choices in the main parameters for these scenarios are discussed. The wide range in some of the major scenario assumptions cause substantially different circumstances for future grid expansion, Especially the share of solar PV and wind in future generation is a crucial parameter influencing the demand for long-distance transmission at a European scale. A comparison is made with some other recent scenario and roadmap studies with a 2050 horizon.

The impact of wind power on day-ahead electricity prices in the Netherlands

A detailed analysis was conducted to assess to what extent availability of wind energy has influenced day-ahead electricity prices in the Netherlands over the past four years. With a meteorological model, time series of day-ahead wind forecasts were generated for the period 2006–2009, and these were compared with APX-ENDEX day-ahead market prices. Wind energy contributes to only 4% of electricity generation in the Netherlands, but was found to depress average day-ahead market prices by about 5%. With the help of the bid curves on the APX-ENDEX day-ahead market for 2009, a model was made to assess the impact of increasing levels of wind generation on power prices in the Netherlands. One of the main findings is that the future impact on prices will be less than in the past. With an increase of installed wind capacity from 2200 MW to 6000 MW, average day-ahead prices are expected to be depressed by an additional 6% in case no additional conventional generation is assumed. Taking into account existing government policy on wind and ongoing work on new conventional power plants, prices in 2016 will be only 3% lower due to wind.