DC10: The economic potential of AWE in the European electricity grid

Objectives

The objective of this research is to try to understand the impact that AWE could potentially have in the European electricity grid. This involves several sub-questions: (1) what are the costs and what revenue could AWE could provide; (2) how complimentary is AWE with respect to other renewable sources; (3) where within Europe, considering demand, wind resource and transmission can AWE make the largest impact (geographic complement); (4) what is the temporal complement that AWE has with respect to other generation sources; (5) how do different technological and social acceptance scenarios impact AWE; (6) what are the market segments that AWE can best exploit in the European power grid, for initial investment and deployment? First, this research tries to estimate production at different locations within Europe, developing methods for efficiently calculating the power generated from ranges of wind conditions. Second, the research will develop methods for determining how AWE can compete within the European electricity network; to do so capitol allocation optimizations will be explored. In these optimizations, the optimization must allocate capitol to develop AWE alongside conventional wind, solar PV, and other classic generation sources to satisfy demand. Third, the research will test the sensitivity of various factors and assumptions on these results. AWE technology will continue to develop in the future, so the research needs to consider a range of future technological and demand scenarios.

Expected Results

Preliminary evaluation of the wind resource available to AWE in Europe. Potential time series and energy production for AWE in different regions in Europe. Preliminary set of scenarios for future AWE technology, costs, European electricity demand and market conditions. Preliminary optimization of AWE penetration under a range of future scenarios. Updated power production based on expected plant effects. Updated scenarios for AWE performance and cost based on updated results. Final optimization study on the potential for AWE penetration in the electricity grid, based on a range of scenarios, with corresponding sensitivity studies.

Supervisory team

Michael McWilliam is main supervisor, Matti Koivisto and Linda Kamp are co-supervisors.

Planned secondments

Kitekraft (M21-M27) to verify energy production models with test data, supervised by Florian Bauer.