Balancing needs and measures in the future West Central European power system with large shares of wind and solar resources

Abstract

The future European power system will include large shares of variable wind and solar resources. This paper analyses the variability for the eHighway 2050 scenarios (from the EU 7th Framework project) by modelling wind and solar resources from the COSMO-EU model. It quantifies the variability for the countries in West Central Europe, separate for each country, and integrated assuming there is no transmission limitations. The analysis results show that integration of systems by grids will have a smoothing effect on the variability. However, main challenges with periodically very low output will remain. The paper quantifies need for balancing taking present and future load profiles into consideration. The paper shows that many aggregated small-scale batteries only will have a limited effect on the need for balancing beyond a few hours. Finally, the paper discusses how the large reservoirs in the Norwegian hydropower system may serve to the balancing needs.