Publications
High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) interconnections started to spread across land and underwater becoming longer and more powerful. The advance of this technology makes them the prime option for bulk power transmission in future. While on land the length can reach thousands of kilometres underwater they measure less than 600 km. The constraints but also the future developments must be addressed in order to assess the perspectives of this technology.
A smart electricity grid opens the door to a myriad of new applications aimed at enhancing security of supply, sustainability and market competitiveness. Gathering detailed information about smart grid laboratories activities represents a primary need. In order to obtain a better picture of the ongoing Smart Grid developments, after the successful smart grid project survey initiated in 2011, we recently launched a focused on-line survey addressed to organisations owning or running Smart Grid laboratory facilities.
This report, the first of a series of periodic publications, systematically gathers and disseminates information on the smart grid laboratories active in Europe and beyond. The underpinning survey developed by the JRC is a comprehensive attempt to get a complete overview of all the smart grid technologies operational at laboratory level.
Member States in line with the provisions of the Third Energy Package1. Subject to the outcome of a possible economic assessment of long-term costs and benefits, Member States are required to prepare a timescale (of up to 10 years in the case of electricity) for the deployment of intelligent metering systems2. This report looks at progress in the EU-273 to date and frames recommendations for the way forward.
The document presents the methodology elaborated by JRC within the framework of its participation to the work of the Smart Grids Task Force, Expert Group on Smart Grid Infrastructure Deployment (Expert Group 4). The then adopted Regulation 347/2013 on guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure provides for the establishment of a EU-wide list of "Projects of Common Interest", a label identifying key energy infrastructure projects in EU. Within this framework, Expert Group 4 had the mandate to define an evaluation framework for projects proposals in the field of smart grids. On the basis of its experience on Cost Benefit Analysis of smart grid projects, JRC developed a multi-criteria assessment framework including: a) a checklist to check that project proposals meet the requirements set out by the Regulation; b) a techno-economic assessment through Key Performance Indicators to capture the key features of each project; c) a Cost Benefit Analysis of each projects.
This report presents the outcome of the evaluation of smart grid project proposals which was carried out by Expert Group 4 (EG4) of the Smart Grid Task Force. The group comprises relevant stakeholders from industry (system operators, manufacturers), regulatory authorities and Member States' representatives. National regulatory authorities have been involved in the evaluation process.
The Expert Group 4 (EG4) was established in February 2012. During the preparatory year of 2012, the task of EG4 was to agree on an assessment framework for the identification of potential projects of common interest (PCI) in the field of smart grids. The assessment framework proposed by the JRC was adopted by EG4 on 4 July 2012. It takes into account the technical and general criteria for the selection of projects of common interest in the field of smart grids, as defined in the trans-European energy infrastructure regulation.
Growing concerns over climate change, security of power supply and market competitiveness are challenging the current power system operation and architecture, with the resulting need to integrate increasing shares of renewable and dispersed energy resources. The era of renewable energy, decentralized energy sources and smart grid technologies will empower all prosumers, from households to small and medium sized enterprises, as well as larger companies, to integrate their consumption and production of energy in networks that would function more like ecosystems than markets. The modernization of the grid, with power and data flowing in both directions, to and from the prosumers, will demand and enable new market structures, new services, and new social processes. As a consequence, the most important challenge for policy makers over the next decade will likely be the shift away from a supply-driven perspective, to one that recognizes the need for the integration of the different dimensions and actors of the energy systems. In this context, the aim of the present report is to shed light on the different components of the social dimensions of the smart grids, from the perspective of the consumer, community and society at large, and to highlight and discuss the main challenges that surround it.
In the present globally interconnected world, energy is generated, stored, transmitted and consumed and its related waste disposed of or recycled- through a complex and dynamic system of systems. A central challenge for Global Systems Science is to focus on the multiple interactions of different scales of the energy systems: from smart micro-grids to super grids. To what extent can these two approaches coexist? How do these two apparently divergent trends and configurations relate to each other and can be managed for a better coordination and efficiency? Global Systems Science should be able to identify what kinds of factors are most relevant for the global energy systems and to what particular pressures are they more sensitive (e.g. not necessarily prices but perhaps to other variables outside the energy systems). This report presents the key points and open issues in emerging energy systems and highlights questions and challenges to global systems science applied to energy systems. It is based on the discussions and results of the workshop on "Vision in global systems science: energy futures" held in Brussels on 18th and 19th March 2013 and organized by DG Connect in collaboration with Joint Research Centre, Institute for Energy and Transport, Petten.
Smart Grid projects play a key role in shedding some light on how to move forward in this challenging transition. To this end, in 2011, the JRC launched the first comprehensive inventory of Smart Gird projects in Europe to collect lessons learned and assess current developments on Smart Grids in Europe [JRC 2011]. The final catalogue was published in July 2011 and included 219 Smart Grid and smart metering projects from EU27 Member States (including 24 smart metering pilots and roll-outs). The overall investment amounted to € 5 billion.
This report proposes ideas and an approach to address present and future challenges in future smart energy systems through the particular lenses of complexity sciences.
Complexities arising inside and around emerging energy distribution systems prompt a multilayered and integrated approach in which different disciplines and areas of expertize are pooled together. The interfaces between system layers and intellectual disciplines are the focus, rather than on the details of any individual layer or the particularities of one approach.
In the last few years, initiatives on Smart Grids have been growing in number and scope on both sides of the Atlantic. A variety of projects has been deployed throughout Europe and US with different aims and results. Substantial public and private investments have been committed to research and development (R&D), demonstration and deployment activities. At this stage, there is a need to evaluate the outcome of implemented projects and share experiences and lessons learned.
Following the inventory of Smart Grid projects carried out by the JRC in 2011, the goal of this report is to provide guidance and advice for conducting cost benefit analysis of Smart Grid projects. We present a step by step assessment framework based on the work performed by EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute) on cost-benefit analysis and provide methodological guidelines and best practices. Modifications to fit the European context have been proposed wherever necessary.
The goal of this report is to provide guidance and advice for conducting cost benefit analysis of smart metering deployment.
We present a step by step assessment framework based on the work performed by EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute), and we provide guidelines and best practices.
Several additions and modifications to fit the European context have been proposed. This work draws on the existing collaboration between the EC and the US Department of Energy (DoE) in the framework of the EU-US Energy Council.
Smart grids are seen as key enablers for the future deployment of sustainable energy, particularly in the context of satisfying the European Union’s (EU) targets for 2020 and beyond. In particular, the share of variable renewable energy sources (RES), such as wind, solar, wave and run-of-the-river hydropower, is predicted to be in excess of 20 % of the total power generation in 2030 [EC DG ENER, 2009]. Moreover, smart grids allow for increased energy efficiency - a requirement for the future power system.
The main goal of this study is to collect a wide inventory of Smart Grid projects in Europe and use project data to support analysis on trends and developments. The report looks into several aspects of the Smart Grids landscape to describe the state of the art of their implementation, the emerging hallmarks of the new electricity system and the foreseeable developments.
In the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding n. JRC.BXL n.30897 between DGTREN and the JRC on the "Supply of Scientific and Technical Support to DGTREN on Nuclear Safety, Waste Management, Radiation Protection, and Sustainability of Nuclear Energy", signed on 25/11/2008 in Luxembourg, this report addresses the request of a report on the "effects of Load Following operating mode at NPPs on the O&M costs; coupling issues with smart grids". This task was included in the work plan set up by JRC and DG-TREN in 2009.
The present report aims at describing the main features of two key families of advanced power technologies, which may play a crucial role in the further development of the European transmission system: Flexible Alternating Current Transmission System (FACTS) and High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission. These power electronics-based devices offer the possibility to increase transmission network capacity as well as flexibility and generally enhance system reliability, security, and controllability with a limited environmental impact.
PREAMBLE TO THE REPORT "2009 Technology Map of the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan)"
The present Report, after offering an overview of the regulatory and market framework affecting the EU transmission system at large, and the renewable energy deployment in particular:
- lists and compares the technical requirements and the charging policy for the connection of new power plants to the European transmission grid, specifically focusing on wind generation (whenever related technical specifications are applied);