The activity described below concerns an analysis applied to a future scenario of the Italian power system to evaluate, from a technical-economic perspective, the impact of constructing a new marine pumping plant located on the eastern coast of Sardinia.
The assessment is carried out by verifying the differences between the results obtained from two different simulations of the electricity markets related to the power system. The methodology is consistent with the “with & without” approach adopted by European network operators for cost-benefit analyses related to transmission network development.
The simulations are conducted using tools developed by RSE (sMTSIM and RUC), assuming a scenario aligned with the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) for the year 2030. A previous study was updated to include additional analyses related to the procurement of resources to meet reserve requirements.
The results of the energy market simulations confirmed the magnitude of the technical-economic indicators. The new pumping plant introduces limited variations in significant indicators, both in terms of Socio-Economic Welfare, which increases by less than one million euros per year, and in terms of CO2 emissions, which decrease by 10,000 tons per year. The energy market analysis provides interesting evidence regarding overgeneration, which decreases by 29.5 GWh/year.
Regarding the new additional evaluations, the different burden due to resorting to the service market to procure reserve margins was quantified. In this case, the impact of the new plant is more significant, with a reduction in the network operator’s expenditure by 4 million euros per year. The procurement of the reserve did not demonstrate particular difficulties, returning negligible values of the “failed procurement” indicators in both cases with and without the pumping plant.
In the future, aspects related to the impact on balancing services and mutual assistance for reserve procurement from neighboring zones through the residual margins on interzonal connections will need to be analyzed.