Evolution and development of the national electricity system

projects - Power System Research - Three year plan (2012-2014)

Evolution and development of the national electricity system

Related tags

#Active networks #Coal #Cogeneration #DC Distribution #Development Scenarios #Electric Market #ElectricalStorage #Electricity Network #Evolution of Demand #Evolution of the Generation #Evolution of the Grid #Gas Combined Bicycles #Hydroelectric #Interference with Environment and Territory #Market Simulation #Monitoring and Control #Photovoltaics #Planning #Reliability and Asset Management #Renewable Energy #Rules and Operation #Security #Smart Grids #Storage #Sustainable Development #Thermal Power Plants

projects - Power System Research - Three year plan (2012-2014)

Evolution and development of the national electricity system

New European energy policies are leading to profound changes in the national electricity system and market, which often result in the transmission grid operating at the limits of safety, increasing the risk of blackouts. The project proposes scenario studies to identify emerging critical issues, probabilistic and dynamic methods to improve the management of the operational security of the system, and planning and development studies to reduce congestion in the transmission grid.

Over the last decade, new Community and national energy policies have led to significant changes in the market and the national electricity system, bringing to the surface new critical issues and needs. Under the pressure of technical, economic, environmental and social drivers, the electricity system has taken on a completely different shape, characterized by increasing grid integration of non-programmable renewable generation and more distributed generation, rather than concentrated in a few large power plants. This new situation, together with the market logic that imposes the exploitation of the electricity system by reducing reserve margins, often leads to the operation of the grid at the limits of safety, increasing the risk of cascading phenomena or even blackouts. In this context, transmission plays a key role in balancing generation and load, but to solve the problems of vulnerability and congestion, it is necessary to have a broader vision at pan-European level, promoting coordinated and joint actions that favor the creation of a single European market and the strengthening of interconnections between countries.
The project “Evolution and development of the national electricity system” broadly addressed the emerging issues by (1) identifying ex ante the critical issues that could affect the electricity system through medium- and long-term scenario studies, (2) analyzing in detail the operational security of the electricity system in its current configuration, and (3) promoting grid planning and development studies to solve congestion and vulnerability problems and strengthen national and international interconnections.
In all three areas, the critical issues, operating conditions and development prospects of the Italian electricity system were analyzed from a pan-European perspective, taking into account the potential benefits that could be derived from the implementation of a single European market (market coupling).
The proposed themes were carried out in synergy with various European Projects (DYNERGYSteel, SAMBA, AFTER, iTESLA, BEST PATHS, GridTech, eBADGE, eHIGHWAY2050 and INSPIRE-Grid) and with IEA activities, in particular the ISGAN and PVPS Implementing Agreements.