Abstract
The Northern Ireland electricity market and Ireland electricity market were combined to be Single Electricity Market (SEM). The Irish Integrated Single Electricity Market (I-SEM), which operates since 2018, is considered to be a next stage for the past SEM project. Power interconnectors of the all-Ireland electricity market can help to support the integrity and stability of the market. The 2020 renewable penetration target set for the I-SEM, which is 40%, has been achieved. It is expected that more ambitious renewable generation targets will be set by both governments by 2030.The aim of this research is to conduct technical and economic analysis of the I-SEM, French and Great Britain (GB) power markets with high renewable penetration, and find out the benefits of increasing not only interconnections, but also energy storage in the specific grid. The ideas of refining knowledge about regional and interconnected I-SEM policies for integrating a higher penetration of variable renewable energy (VRE) to the grid network are also addressed in this research.
To achieve the aim of the research, three scenarios, which are VRE scenario, Interconnection scenario, and Energy Storage scenario, are developed together with several case studies focusing on the time horizon of 2030. The VRE scenario has various levels of renewable energy sources of electricity (RES-E) targets for the three regions. The interconnection scenario is designed with four levels of different interconnection capacities. The Energy Storage scenario consists of five case studies with various I-SEM energy storage capacities. For access to the technical and economic effects of greater renewable penetration, various interconnection capacities and appropriate energy storage capacities, are estimated by using CO2 emission, total power system net revenue, total power system generation cost and system marginal price (SMP).
The developed model was validated using real data, considering combined power markets of not only the day-ahead market (DAM), but also the intra-day market (IDM). The validated model was also confirmed as an appropriate representation for the I-SEM, GB power system, French electricity system. It is indicated that higher levels of interconnection and energy storage have huge technical advantages in the considered future power systems, and allow the
increase of technically feasible wind penetration, further reducing primary energy supply as well as the system emissions intensity.
Modelling results show that higher 2030 renewable power generations can not only lower consumers’ electricity bills, but also maximise the social welfare. For I-SEM, higher levels of interconnection have beneficial effects on reducing electricity price, CO2 emission and total power system generation cost. Achieving 2030MW interconnection capacity by 2030 I-SEM has the best performance from an economical and environmental perspective. The Energy Storage scenario indicates that the total capacity of 2030 I-SEM energy storage should be installed between 820MW and 1170MW, having a better techno- economic and environmental performance and social benefits.
| Date of Award | Aug 2021 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Supervisor | Inna Vorushylo (Supervisor) & Ye Huang (Supervisor) |