Using resource based slicing to capture the intermittency of variable renewables in energy system models

Abstract

As the share of wind and solar power is expected to grow significantly in coming decades, it has become increasingly important to account for their intermittency in large-scale energy system models and global integrated assessment models that are used to explore long term developments. However, the scope of these models often prohibits the use of a high intra-annual time resolution that can adequately capture the main characteristics of variable renewables. A more efficient representation is required. In this paper we evaluate resource-based slicing, i.e. selecting time slices based on wind and solar generation rather than e.g. season and time-of-day. We show that resource slicing can capture many aspects introduced by variable renewables such as the need for flexible generation capacity, curtailment at high penetration levels and interactions with baseload and storage technologies, while using only sixteen intra-annual time slices.