Towards an energy system in Europe based on renewables – Model based analysis of Greece and Germany by coupling a European wide demand and supply model (PRIMES) with a regional and temporal high resolution bottom-up invest-ment and unit-commitment model (RESlion), financed by the BMBF of Germany and the GSRT of Greece
The RES-DEGREE project conducts energy system analysis to study in detail the electricity systems of Greece and Germany in the context of high penetration of variable RES; in parallel it explores the possibility of development of interconnecting paths between the two countries in order to maximize the capacity and use of variable RES in both countries. The analysis employs two models, the PRIMES model, a hybrid top-down, bottom-up demand and supply model of the European energy system, and RESLion, a regional and temporal high resolution bottom-up investment and unit-commitment model of Germany and Greece. The two models have complementary coverage and their coupling allows for examining a wide spectrum of the issues that arise from high variable RES penetration in Greece and Germany, as it considers their embedment in the pan-European interconnected energy system (PRIMES) while also looking into detail into their national energy systems with high regional and temporal resolution (RESLion).
An enhancement of the PRIMES model was undertaken specifically for the purposes of this project, increasing its time resolution and capturing better the fluctuations of variable RES and hence of flexibility requirements of the power system. From the analysis of a rich scenario framework, this analysis concludes that an enhancement of the interconnection paths between Greece and Germany allows for harnessing of the RES potential that exists in Greece, especially for Solar PV and also allows for the synergistic exploitation of the RES potential in the two countries, as Germany appears to decrease solar capacities and increase wind capacities. Moreover, such an enhancement would result in decreasing the necessity for flexible capacities at the EU level as increased power trade covers for part of the flexibility requirements. There are benefits also in terms of security of supply, while average electricity prices decrease. There are positive externalities to other countries of the EU as well, which appear to “free ride” on the benefits from the particular enhancement of the network. Moreover, the introduction of an interconnector between the two countries has been assessed as economically viable and considering the described benefits it is worth considering funding. However, for the described benefits of the interconnectors to be realized in real-life there are considerable preconditions: a) the proper functioning of the markets that lie along the route of the interconnectors (Balkan region) and wide market-coupling, and b) perfect functioning of the Internal Energy Market and flow-based allocation of interconnection capacities. The analysis with the RESlion model takes a closer look within the national systems of Greece and Germany. It concludes that both the Greek and German energy systems require international and national grid extensions with a high priority for further development of RES to occur. The analysis points out that such grid extensions are economically beneficial compared to other solutions such as conventional back-up or large-scale storage systems. Moreover the analysis indicates the need for widely distributed RES rather than employing centralized solutions in order to achieve high RES-E shares. The role of flexible power plants and storage plants is very significant in order to ensure system stability.
Involved Partners
- E3MLab of the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (Greece)
- Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems - ISE (Germany)
You can download the final report here
