Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PLANET (Planning and operational tools for optimising energy flows and synergies between energy networks)

Teaser

Renewable energy sources offer opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change. A challenge to be solved is tackling the impact of intermittency of their electricity supply on the grid. Energy conversion and storage has been...

Summary

Renewable energy sources offer opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change. A challenge to be solved is tackling the impact of intermittency of their electricity supply on the grid. Energy conversion and storage has been considered as a very promising solution. The framework will enable market actors and regulators to optimally plan, install, commission and dispatch energy conversion units along the electricity distribution grid in order to ensure maximum absorption of excess RES generation and immediate consumption or conversion into alternative carriers. PLANET tool will create a holistic Decision Support System (DSS) integrated in an ICT monitoring and orchestration cockpit (IDOC) that will aid to leverage innovative energy conversion in alternative carriers & storage technologies in order to explore, identify, evaluate and optimise electricity grid planning and constraints management strategies (SCCE) for a full energy system decarbonisation.
A robust analysis of the synergies between electricity, gas and heat networks will be carried out by creating simulation models for the integration between energy networks and conversion/storage technologies, e.g. power-to-gas (P2G), power-to-heat (P2H) and virtual thermal energy storage (VES).
A validation of the developed tools based on field data collected from two different test cases in Italy and France will showcase their benefits and also reveal potential grid stability issues and effective countermeasures.

Work performed

System architecture design & energy system projections
Activities have focused on the definition of the different Use Cases and on the future energy system scenarios which will define the boundary conditions for optimization. This activity was carried out by a standard process of requirements elicitation and specification definition and finally designing the conceptual and implementation architectures.
Energy conversion/storage technologies modelling and prediction
In parallel to the design of the system architecture, the modelling of the energy storage/conversion technologies (P2G, P2H, VES) was performed in a preliminary implementation.
Grid & Networks simulation, management and global demand coordination framework
The electricity heat and gas demand/supply models have been defined. The implementation of the Storage/Conversion Optimization Engine (SCCE) has started. The Common Information Model on the system is in development to enable interoperability between the components of the system.
ICT framework development
The ICT framework is under development upon the principles of the system architecture and the interfaces defined between the assets and the networks. A preliminary version of the UI and the Orchestration Cockpit has been developed and integrated into a first functioning Proof of Concept . The PoC simulates an 8-node model of a Turin electricity grid MV branch with several assets connected to the nodes. All necessary input of the simulation parameters is implemented through the UI enabling remote control of the grid simulator and view/save functions.
System validation activities
The solution will be validated in its entirety and simulation activities will be undertaken to extract the necessary results. The draft version of the validation methodology has been already prepared.The test sites, which will deliver the data for calibration, are under implementation.
Market and regulation models assessment
A market analysis has been implemented, identifying first innovative business models to be adopted by the DSO participants to the project. The current regulatory frameworks analysis is under development and by the dialogue with the advisors, a group of key regulatory features will be proposed for the adoption in the future grid synergies.
Dissemination, Communication & Business Innovation activities
WP7 contains horizontal activities for the results promotion. It includes activities for the preliminary business innovation planning in preparation for results exploitation in the market, the promotion of the standardization punch-list to the relevant bodies as well as the definition of policy and market reform recommendations.

Results achieved
• Definition of use cases, scenarios to study the synergies between the energy vectors and system architecture definition
• 1st version of the Human-centric P2H Virtual Energy Storage models and P2G and P2H models
• The electricity heat and gas demand/supply models defined
• 8-node branch of MV electric grid implemented and tested
• 1st Version of the IDOC (orchestration cockpit) and Preliminary SCCE (coordination engine) implemented
• 1st Proof of Concept of the tool implemented and tested

Final results

PLANET aims to deliver a holistic ICT framework for incorporating the electricity, gas and heat networks in a joint exploration framework in order to properly account for all interconnection aspects and specificities, providing useful feedback to policy makers, regulators and system operators in order to achieve the desired EU energy transition
In terms of socio-economics, the aim of the DSS deployment in real-life scenarios brings opportunities for the integration of RES-e generation on the electricity grid as well as feeding the gas and heat networks from their oversupply. Long-term side effects of this include the cost reduction of energy, even regardless of the carrier, increase of security of supply and grid stability, since all generation will be local and flexibility sources will contribute in the demand and supply balancing, and significant improvement of social welfare as a direct consequence of these.
Another social aspect is related to the environment. RES hold the promise to decarbonize the entire system, including electricity, heating, gas and transport systems with the use of appropriate conversion and storage technologies. Solution will comprise a valuable tool in the arsenal of policy makers and network planners for the coordinated networks design and compatible policy instruments for the stimulation of the appropriate technology deployments that can achieve the objectives.
Impact of outcomes of market transformation will be multi-fold. Deployment of conversion/storage solutions can reduce the impact of RES generation unpredictability of existing wholesale markets and relax the needs for real-time markets giving time to policy makers and the energy system to respond to new grid challenges.

Website & more info

More info: https://www.h2020-planet.eu/.