Renewable Energy

GRID PARTY: Grid Parity

The term "grid parity" is used to describe the point in time when a developing technology can produce electricity at the same cost as traditional technologies, making it affordable for ratepayers. This means that the new technology can generate electricity at the same cost as the electricity available on a utility's transmission and distribution grid. However, we are still far from achieving grid parity. It requires a significant amount of investment. In 2004, the world invested 47 billion USD in clean energy. By 2015, this investment had increased to 286 billion USD, a growth of over 600 percent. Investment in clean energy has increased in all regions, but at different rates. It is expected that the largest economies would also be the largest investors. To assess which countries are making a fair contribution to clean energy investment, it is useful to consider investment as a percentage of a country's gross domestic product (GDP). China remains one of the leading investors in clean energy, but there is still a long way to go before we can truly celebrate the grid party.

The largest investors.

NB The LCOE can also be regarded as the minimum constant price at which electricity must be sold in order to break even over the lifetime of the project.

Today's clean energy technologies such as more efficient electrical grids and devices that can store intermittent wind power are still in a very early stage, so private investment alone is not enough.

There is a direct correlation between patent filings and investment, so when investment is down, so are patent filings.

HUBBERT is best known for his studies on the size of oil fields and natural gas reserves, and the limits these impose on rates of oil and gas production. He predicted that, for an oil-producing area, from an oil-producing province, a nation, or the planet as a whole, the rate of petroleum production of the reserve over time would resemble a bell curve.

If we look at trends in proven fuel reserves, we see that our reported oil reserves have not decreased but increased by more than 50 percent, and natural

Gas prices have increased by more than 55 percent since 1995. This fact, combined with changes in rates of consumption, means that predicting "peak fossil fuel" is highly uncertain. However, we can still survive for 80 to 100 years, so we need more crude oil. The only hope is to use more renewable energy!

In terms of climate, the greenhouse effect is a natural phenomenon that contributes to the average temperature level on the surface of a planet with an atmosphere. The countries with the highest Global Warming Potential right now are China, India, Europe, and the USA.

The Kyoto Protocol of 1997 implemented the objective to reduce the onset of global warming by reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to "a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system."

The Paris Agreement of 2016 sets out a global framework to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.

framework also focuses on the development and promotion of renewable energy sources, such as solar PV, wind, and bioenergy. These sources accounted for a significant portion of the growth in electricity generation in 2018. However, in order to achieve the goal of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, it is necessary to decrease the overall energy consumption and reduce reliance on gas and coal. Hydropower is another important component of the international energy framework, with global capacity reaching 1005 GW. China played a leading role in commissioning new hydropower capacity, accounting for over 34% of new installations in 2018. This is due to the fact that China does not have access to crude oil and therefore needs to rely on alternative sources of energy.

framework solar pv

There is a growing demand of solar power every year. Around the world, mining, manufacturing and other industries were erecting solar PV (and other renewable) plants to power their operations. The solar PV industry experienced significant growing pains in 2018.

The international energy framework wind power (51 GW added in 2014)Wind is characterized by a stable installation, falling prices in a competitive industry and growing interest in offshore power, following successes in Europe. Wind isn't on track because it needs a lot of space to install.

PART 4 - THE ELECTRICAL NETWORK

OLD version: electricity grids were traditionally used to transport energy from a few production plants to a large number of users or customers. Open tree structure

NEW version: electricity grids were designed to transport energy from a limited number of entry points to a large number of consumers. It is a power network that transports at high voltage from the power plants that produce

electricity demand throughout the day, based on predictions and historical data. This helps in planning and managing the generation and distribution of electricity. - Blue curve (actual): represents the real-time electricity demand, which may vary from the forecasted demand due to various factors such as weather conditions, unexpected events, or changes in consumer behavior. - Red curve (generation): shows the amount of electricity being generated at different times of the day. It is important to match the generation with the demand to ensure a stable and reliable supply of electricity. To achieve this, the electrical system relies on a network of power plants, transmission lines, substations, and distribution networks. The power plants generate electricity, which is then transmitted at high voltages through the transmission lines to the substations. At the substations, the voltage is transformed to a lower level (medium voltage) and distributed to the demand centers. From the demand centers, electricity is further distributed to individual customers. The new grid is designed to be robust and resilient, with lower energy dissipation compared to the previous grid. It is not a passive system but a smart one, where everything is organized and controlled. The chain of the electrical system consists of production, transmission, and distribution. In Italy, the transmission is managed by TERNA, a state-controlled private company. It includes a national control center, territorial control centers, and teleconduction centers. These centers monitor and control the flow of electricity to ensure a reliable and efficient transmission. Electricity cannot be stored in large quantities, except in special cases where it is converted into other forms of energy, which is expensive. Therefore, its production must match the demand instant by instant. Load diagrams provide information on how much power is needed minute by minute to satisfy the final demand. This information helps in optimizing the generation and distribution of electricity.

load curve one day in advance- Terna provides info on the load curve in real time- GME: is responsible for managing the market in which the energy is purchased- Green curve: is prepared the day before on the basis of the consumption values for similar days of previous periods taking into account the variable that influence the demand for electricity such as meteorological and climatic factors and socio-economic components- The trend of electricity needs in real time (red curve) is obtained from the information necessary for the safe control of the electrical system (for 89% real-time surveys and for the remaining 11% from offline estimates). This information (telemeasures and telesignals) makes it possible to manage the electricity system in real time, aimed at ensuring the balance between production and electricity needs. The numerical data and the demand graph are automatically updated every 15 minutes

Forecast problems due to:

1. Production crisis or boom
2. Inhabitants lifestyle (wealth, habits,

The system that ensures the balance between production and electricity request is called dispatching. Safety is achieved when the system is able to cope with anomalies, such as imbalance, without resorting to interruption of service and even less endangering the equipment.

In order to have an electrical system managed economically and at the same time ensure a satisfactory quality of service, careful regulation of the generation and a breakdown of the contribution of the various types of power plants based on marginal costs is necessary. The power plant park is structured in such a way as to provide both a constant basic production, which covers the minimum below which the demand never drops, and a variable production, which must intervene in very short times.

The variability of the request makes it necessary to feed the energy essentially based on:

1. Economic criteria, particularly on the marginal cost of the energy
2. Technical criteria, such as:

Electricity requirement coverage

The contribution of RES that doesn't participate in the market is already subtracted from the load diagram as it is already incentivized and has priority in the withdrawal of energy.

The constant part of the load diagram will be produced by hydroelectric power plants with flowing water, geothermal and thermoelectric power plants of great power and high efficiency.

The production of the modulated energy will be entrusted to the lower efficiency thermoelectric power plants and to the hydroelectric power plants with daily or weekly reservoirs.

Hydroelectric power plants with large seasonal

Regulation and pumping tanks are reserved for covering the tips of the load diagram.

The electricity market is divided into:

• Market of the day before (MPG) - hosts most of the electricity trading transitions, the operators participate by presenting offers in which they indicate the quantity and the max/min price at which they are willing to buy/sell. MPG session starts at 8 am and ends at 12 on the day before delivery.
• Intraday market (MI) - allows the operators to make changes to the programs defined in the MPG through additional purchase or sale offers.
• Dispatching service market (MSD) - is the tool through which TERNA procures the resources necessary for the management and control of the system. It acts as a central and the accepted offers are remunerated at the price presented. It accepts offers for the purchase and sale of energy in order to perform the secondary regulation service and maintain the balance in real time between the injection and withdrawal of energy from the grid.

NB base

load/energy that we need 11 GW VS intermittent production of 13.6 GW→Thermal energy is an essential source for the performance of the regulation and balancing function of the electrical system makes it particularly interesting to verify what the min power threshold can be in the period of max supply of intermittent non-programmable sources

SMART GRID

It is a cost-effective, sustainable and secure energy system in which renewable energy production, infrastructures and consumption are integrated and coordinated through energy services, active users and enabling technologies.

It is impossible to talk about renewable sources without talking about SMART CITIES (is a place where traditional networks and services are made more efficient with the use of digital and telecommunication technologies for the benefit of its inhabitants and business) and SMART MOBILITY