Kristof De Vos

Balancing management mechanisms for intermittent power sources — A case study for wind power in Belgium

To maintain stability within the UCTE-grid, European TSOs are responsible for maintaining a balance between generation, import, consumption and export in their control zones. This responsibility is partly transferred to BRPs which are market participants responsible for the balance between injections and off-takes in their perimeter. With imbalance fees working as incentive to avoid imbalances, BRPs will forecast, schedule and nominate their positions to the TSO before gate closure. With rising interest in electricity from Renewable Energy Sources (RES-e), often characterized by variability, lower predictability and limited controllability, BRPs are facing difficulties meeting their nominated positions in real-time. This gives them a competitive disadvantage. As in most countries RES-e are in fact supported to attain certain penetration levels, system operators and BRPs have to find ways to manage this unpredictability and variability.

The Impact of Operating Reserves on Investment Planning of Renewable Power Systems

To limit computational effort, current power system expansion planning tools typically consider limited detail on the technical constraints of power systems, such as the need for operating reserves. With growing balancing needs, this is likely to underestimate the technical barriers and integration cost of large shares of renewable generation. This contribution studies the impact of operating reserve requirements on generation capacity investments following the large-scale integration of intermittent renewable generation. Simulations show that operating reserves have a substantial impact on the generation capacity installed, and its operation, and result in a substantial increase of renewable integration costs. Furthermore, it is shown that the use of improved reserve strategies, such as dynamic reserve sizing, and the participation of renewables in the supply of downward reserves, is able to significantly reduce this cost increase.

Demand response in electricity distribution grids: Regulatory framework and barriers

Demand response for residential consumers is making a slow progression, despite its benefits towards various market participants, and the challenges faced by distribution grids concerning the integration of distributed and renewable energy sources, and new demand side applications. While some obstacles are techno-economic in nature, there also exist barriers related to regulation. The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the current regulatory framework concerning demand response in distribution systems, as well as to identify the main regulatory barriers to implementation for residential consumers. It is found that in some areas, the current regulatory framework is inadequate or incomplete. An analysis of the relevant literature allows to classify these barriers into six categories.

Asymmetric reserve power delivered by large wind power plants

A stable and secure operation of the electricity grid is mainly achieved by contracting power generators to ancillary services in addition to their main commercial product, active power. Electricity from Renewable Energy Sources (RES-e) is today generally exempted from the participation in ancillary services. However, the increasing share integration of variable RES-e with a limited predictability has an impact on the demand and supply structure of these services. In this paper, the possibility of wind power participating in frequency control or delivering active power reserves as an ancillary service is investigated. Within this framework, technical, regulatory and economic aspects are examined and evaluated. As the specific details about the way ancillary services are contracted differ over Europe, a case-study is done for the Belgian control zone. The consequence of offering an asymmetric reserve power, with only downward regulation, is economically assessed.

Operational flexibility provided by storage in generation expansion planning with high shares of renewables

The integration of variable renewable energy resources result in an increased need for operational flexibility. Energy storage is one of the alternatives to conventional generation technologies to provide this flexibility. A generic model for energy storage is introduced into a generation expansion planning model, considering operational constraints of power plants and system balancing requirements. Different targets for the final renewable electricity generation towards the future are imposed, quantifying the need for electricity storage and the impact on the electricity generation mix. When facing high renewable targets, storage is found to reduce the need for installed generation capacity, both conventional and renewable, and reduce the electricity generation costs.

Virtual power plants: Definition, applications and barriers to the implementation in the distribution system

A virtual power plant assists in the integration of distributed energy resources in the power system. With a rising share of distributed generation, an active management of distributed energy resources is indispensable in order to ensure operation of the electricity network towards the future. In this paper, the virtual power plant concept is analyzed. Three essential components that characterize a virtual power plant are distinguished, followed by a comprehensive overview of the services they can deliver in todays liberalized markets in Europe. It is found that a combination of technical, economic and regulatory barriers still hamper a widespread implementation of the concept. In addition, specific regulatory barriers are identified that hinder a virtual power plant in providing certain services. Hence, it is advised that primarily product and service definitions, as well as market mechanisms, are reviewed.

Mind the gap: Challenges and policy options for cross-border transmission network investments

Cross-border transmission network investment requirements are expected to increase, in order to strengthen internal market integration and reach the renewable deployment policy target across Europe. This paper discusses the governance of cross-border transmission network infrastructure using four building blocks: network planning, ownership, financing and cost allocation. Firstly, the key characteristics of current regulatory arrangements and challenges faced are identified for each building block. Options are proposed jointly to address the identified challenges.

Efficient use of transmission capacity for cross-border trading: Available Transfer Capacity versus flow-based approach

The European Union strives towards an integrated European electricity market. Achieving this objective while preserving a zonal pricing approach in combination with market coupling, requires an efficient cross-border transmission capacity calculation and allocation mechanism. In this context, a new flow-based algorithm is developed in the CWE region for the day-ahead time frame. The idea is to accurately take into account the impact each trade has on the grid by translating cross-border contractual exchanges into physical flows. This paper compares this flow-based approach to the conventional ATC mechanism for the four steps that can be distinguished in the daily cross-border coordination process. To this end, market reports concerning the operation of the flow-based method are studied. While flow-based market coupling is beneficial to ATC from a theoretical point of view, operational challenges before, during and after market coupling are identified. These have to be considered as well in assessing the overall improvement of flow-based compared to ATC.

Environmental and electricity market regulation of smart grid applications for communities and SMEs within Northwestern European regions

In light of the European Union objectives concerning energy efficiency and sustainability, several Member States are advocating for, and even subsidizing the integration of renewable generation, distributed generation and smart grid technologies. This paper aims to evaluate the existing environmental and electricity market regulation applied in the five regions across Europe involved within the GREAT project, i.e. Flanders, England, The Netherlands, Scotland, Ireland. This analysis focuses particularly on communities and SMEs.

Financial implications of imbalance settlement exemptions for wind power generators

This paper evaluates the application of the specific Belgian mechanism to relief offshore wind power generation partially from the imbalance settlement mechanism. A tolerance margin for imbalances originating from offshore production deviations is installed in which producers and balancing responsible parties enjoy beneficial imbalance tariffs. This paper investigates background, conditions and financial implications of this regulation in order to determine if such support mechanisms can be adequate to support offshore wind power developments.