Abstract
Summary The aim of this paper is to evaluate the role of the Swiss electricity transmission system and the planned network extensions in the context of Central European electricity market developments and thereby the Swiss and European energy transitions. In addition, we conduct a sensitivity analysis of delayed grid investments for Swiss and European network projects, respectively. By utilizing a numerical model representation of the Swiss electricity market Swissmod we derive a quantification of the different effects and developments up to 2050. In summary, the Central European market will largely be influenced by the significant increase in intermittent renewable generation. Whereas current power flow patterns are mostly from the Northern markets towards Italy using Switzerland as a transit hub, the large share of solar capacities in 2050 will lead to a high variability on shorter timeframes. While Switzerland will remain a transit hub, the import and export flows will vary with season and daytime. The potential costs and system impacts due to delayed network investments are rather modest in comparison to the overall generation costs but can nevertheless sum to 700 million per year highlighting the importance of network extension to improve cross-regional energy exchange.
Highlights
Electricity markets are currently in a phase of change
The aim of this paper is to evaluate the role of the Swiss electricity transmission system and the planned network extensions in the context of the Central European electricity market development and thereby the Swiss and European energy transitions
To evaluate the role of Switzerland within the European electricity grid as well as the impact of network extensions on the modeled system we simulate a series of scenarios with different spatial and temporal characteristics: Base Case Representing the expected realization of the Ten-Year Network Development Plan (TYNDP) following the above described EU and Swiss trend scenarios
Summary
Electricity markets are currently in a phase of change. In many industrialized countries the markets have been liberalized and renewable energies are becoming an integral part of the production portfolio. The long-term objective is a complete transition of the system from national fossil-based markets towards a low-carbon, integrated European market, primarily based on renewable generation (European Commission, 2011) Within this development the transmission system will play a central role as it is required to link the different national markets and transport the increasing amounts of renewable electricity to the demand centers. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the role of the Swiss electricity transmission system and the planned network extensions in the context of the Central European electricity market development and thereby the Swiss and European energy transitions. By utilizing a Swiss market model capturing transmission constraints as well as detailed hydro interdependencies we evaluate the impact of network investments in Switzerland and its neighboring countries on the electricity markets.
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