Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - RE-SERVE (Renewables in a Stable Electric Grid)

Teaser

Future energy systems will use renewable energy sources to minimise CO2 emissions. Currently large generators powered by fossil fuel turbines maintain the stability and quality of energy supplies through their inertia. The inertia of these generator-turbine groups gives...

Summary

Future energy systems will use renewable energy sources to minimise CO2 emissions. Currently large generators powered by fossil fuel turbines maintain the stability and quality of energy supplies through their inertia. The inertia of these generator-turbine groups gives providers a significant time window for reacting to network events. We urgently need to find ways to stabilise energy systems with up to 100% RES (where inertia is often lost due to power converter mediated energy transfer) to generate “RESERVEs” so that society can relax in the knowledge that it has a stable and sustainable energy supply.
The RESERVE project enables up to 100% penetration of renewables by having developed innovative approaches to system level automation based on innovative ancillary service provision with a close to market level of maturity, supported with validation of the concepts and policies using a pan-European real time simulation Infrastructure, and the anchoring of the approach with the main sector actors in Europe and beyond.
Energy systems with high levels of RES integration will require new distributed energy and ICT system architectures and will need to integrate the use of 5G ICT into the design of ancillary services to ensure system stability. The focus of the RESERVE project has been to prepare the way for new harmonised ancillary services with harmonised network codes, which are needed to operate RES based energy systems. We did this by developing new concepts to ensure system stability and undertaking feasibility studies and trials of elements of these concepts and their implementation in 5G ICT-enhanced solutions.

Work performed

RESERVE achieved its strategic objective of enabling the integration of up to 100% penetration of renewables into the energy generation mix by:
• Developing the novel research concepts of Linear Swing Dynamics (LSD) and Virtual Output Impedance (VOI),
• Validating the concepts through an innovative pan-European real time simulation infrastructure and
• Developing a set of harmonised regulations and network codes, supported by the sector actors and realised as field trials.
RESERVE addressed the RESERVE strategic challenge through:
• Putting dynamics both for voltage and frequency control, taking into account the role and characteristics of power electronics, at the centre of our research,
• Basing work on a bottom up approach and fully decentralised approach. Such an approach follows the characteristics of the decentralised future energy system and also means that the approach can be progressively adopted supporting transitions in energy systems,
• Proposing a new way to address the transition, monitoring the evolution of the system, using advanced real-time modelling, capable of supporting future decision-making processes,
• Incorporating innovative and social responsible innovation using to a Corporate Social Responsibility approach as a complement to technical studies,
• Involving all the key-stakeholders in the process from the beginning,
• Proposes a vision of exploitation that shows clear impact well beyond the duration of the project creating new opportunity for competitivity for the energy sector in Europe, and
• Proposes the right mix of laboratory and field trial to get immediate, concrete and realistic information on the real-life implementations enabling the immediate application of the knowledge generated in the project in the day to day work of utilities.

Final results

RESERVE produced a framework for stabilising energy systems with up to 100% RES integration, expressed as:
• A set of new research concepts for fast voltage and frequency control,
• A pan-European real-time simulation infrastructure, implemented as the interconnection of facilities at 4 universities, to validate the fast frequency and voltage control concepts during the project, and to support, after the end of the project, regulators and energy stakeholders in general in defining the energy transition process,
• Guidelines on the implementation of a new structure for Ancillary Services together with the corresponding measurements required to enable the European Internal Energy market to the completed,
• Development of a new Wideband-frequency Grid Impedance (WFZ) device,
• Requirements on 5G ICT for supporting energy systems with up to 100% RES integration, for promotion in standards bodies in the energy and communications sectors,
• An adaptation and harmonisation of today’s network codes to support the implementation of the new structure of Ancillary Services,
• Demonstration of fast voltage control in a live field trial on the Irish power network, which shall show increased overall distribution system utilisation, supporting an increased penetration of distributed renewable energy sources (increasing load –> reduce wind curtailment),
• Feasibility study of fast frequency control based on real time hardware in the loop experimentation, and laboratory small-scale demonstration emulating the Romanian network use-case, and
• New ethical business models to support 100% RES integration in today energy systems.

The implementation of RESERVE research concepts using the latest 5G ICT technologies has been investigated and tests of aspects of the performance of the communications undertaken. The concepts have been promoted as ancillary service definitions to ENTSO-E/ACER. The RESERVE research concepts provide input to the definition of harmonised network codes which will help the energy sector to provide a stable power supply with very high levels of RES integration and without the availability of hydro-electric generation station.
RESERVE’s new ancillary service definitions provide a basis enabling energy providers to integrate high levels of RES to complete the European Internal Energy market as defined in the SET plan of the European Commission.
RESERVE has provided the software needed to connect to our novel pan-European real-time simulation platform and our Dynamic Phasor solver as Open Source code creating the capability of capitalising on the availability of computational resources across Europe to create a unified virtual simulation environment, enabling much larger scale energy system simulations than are currently possible.
RESERVE demonstrations of research results, at TRL levels 4 and 5 in laboratory experiments and in field trials are creating confidence in the energy sector community that our techniques are applicable to today’s and future energy systems.
RESERVE contributions to regulations and network codes provide the basis for scalable deployment of solutions and demonstrate European leadership in RES integration internationally.
RESERVE’s many results will create jobs in the service operations of the partner organisations and contribute to job creation in European based energy sector actor organisations and the ICT sector as the results are commercialised.
RESERVE results will unlock new markets, mostly for innovative SMEs, in implementing new energy services based on the innovative RES integration concepts and the new automation and monitoring concepts, and
Partner organisations aim to increase their revenue streams and market shares by providing new innovative services to the energy sector which leverage the results of the RESERVE project.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.re-serve.eu.