Decentralised Electricity Markets and Proactive Customer Behaviour

Jens Maiwald,Tino Schuette

doi:10.3390/en14030781

Jens Maiwald, Tino Schuette

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/en14030781

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Journal: Energies	Publication Date: Feb 2, 2021
Citations: 4	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences

Abstract

The energy transition in Germany takes part in decentral structures. With the ongoing integration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) into the electricity supply system, supply-side is therefore becoming increasingly decentral and volatile due to the specific generation characteristics. A rather inflexible demand-side, on the other hand, increases the effort to gain the necessary equilibrium between generation and consumption. This paper discusses how consumer behaviour can be influenced by real-time pricing to align demand with generation. Therefore, a combination of two different approaches is used, (I) The Cellular Approach (CA) and (II) Agent Based Modelling (ABM). A model is set up considering a regional energy market, where regional electricity products can be traded peer-to-peer regarding each consumer’s preferences. The observation is made for a whole distribution grid including all types of consumers. The investigations show that energy purchases can be stimulated individually by a flexible pricing mechanism and met preferences. Moreover, benefits occur for the whole region and potentials arise to smooth the exchange balance to the superordinate grid level. Running the model for one entire year in a conservative generation scenario, hours of oversupply could be reduced by 18% and the consumption of green electricity generated regionally could be increased by over 125 MWh within the region itself, in comparison to a base scenario.

Highlights

A stable electricity system is highly dependent on a permanent equilibrium between generation and consumption
It has to be stated that large spreads between the variables e and c respectively l and c can result in an immense willingness to pay (WTP), which cannot be assumed for reality this way
Since these high WTPs are not called at the market, but prices are capped by the local utility company (LUC) and the individual WTPs only serve for classification in the model, it is legitimate to work with these functions

Summary

Introduction

A stable electricity system is highly dependent on a permanent equilibrium between generation and consumption. Flexibility of both sides is a fundamental need. As the German energy transition progresses, the number of renewable, near-load electricity generation units will increase and by this, the amount of electricity fed into the distribution grid level [10]. If the electricity cannot be consumed locally, it will be transferred to the upper grid levels and transported to other regions where generation does not exceed the demand. This trend will inevitably continue to grow in the course of the energy transition [11]. On the other hand, designing the grid for the so-called last kilowatt-hour is not economically efficient [10,12]. (II) Costs for redispatch in Germany increased continuously in the last decade [13]

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion