RET_2015-01-02-03-04_Flipbook

Demand Response: which place in the future energy system - Peter SCHELL
INTRODUCTION
Demand Response (DR) has been a buzz word for some time now and is a dominant
topic in most positions expressed about the future energy system by the European
Commission, ACER and CEER as well as authorities in most European member states.
Belgium has been in the leading pack of this process which has culminated in the recent
report by the CREG on the subject [1]. What those study lack to different degrees is a
clear definition of what exact place DR will/can take in the future energy system and
more importantly how this change to the energy system can be achieved.
DR is not the solution to all issues so much is clear but in combination with increased
intermittent renewable energy production, increased cross-boarder capacity and the
transition of transport and heat towards electricity it can and should play a major role as
soon as possible.
1 THE KEY CHALLENGE : RUNNING HOURS
The one key challenge introduced by the transition towards a sustainable energy system
is the running hours of the different components. In proportion to the maximum
demand of the system the proportion of baseload is significantly reduced and the
average running hours of all non-renewable “peak” assets also reduces significantly as
illustrated in the following diagram
Fig. 1: Qualitative evolution of cumulative load on Elia Network
The black curve is the residual load on the Elia network for 2014. The green curve is the
qualitative evolution due to the further evolution of intermittent renewable energy
sources and the blue curve shows the impact of increased cross-boarder capacity.
As is illustrated the challenge for the energy system of the future is to find sources of
capacity that can be efficient with significantly reduced running hours compared to the
past situation. These sources need to be economically efficient, sustainable and provide
the required availability and reliability to guarantee security of supply.
Revue E Tijdschrift – 131 ste jaargang/131 e année – n° 1-2-3-4-2015 (publication mars/publicatie maart 2017) 2