arXiv subjects

Wolf-Peter Schill

Publications and source records attributed to Wolf-Peter Schill.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

An open tool for creating battery-electric vehicle time series from empirical data -- emobpy

There is substantial research interest in how future fleets of battery-electric vehicles will interact with the power sector. To this end, various types of energy models depend on meaningful input parameters, in particular time series of vehicle mobility, driving electricity consumption, grid availability, or grid electricity demand. As the availability of such data is highly limited, we introduce the open-source tool emobpy. Based on mobility statistics, physical properties of vehicles, and other customizable assumptions, it derives time series data that can readily be used in a wide range of model applications. For an illustration, we create and characterize 200 battery-electric vehicle profiles for Germany. Depending on the hour of the day, a fleet of one million vehicles has a median grid availability between 5 and 7 gigawatts, as vehicles are parking most of the time. Four exemplary grid electricity demand time series illustrate the smoothing effect of balanced charging strategies.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2020

The Economics of Variable Renewables and Electricity Storage

The transformation of the electricity sector is a main element of the transition to a decarbonized economy. Conventional generators powered by fossil fuels have to be replaced by variable renewable energy (VRE) sources in combination with electricity storage and other options for providing temporal flexibility. We discuss the market dynamics of increasing VRE penetration and their integration in the electricity system. We describe the merit-order effect (decline of wholesale electricity prices as VRE penetration increases) and the cannibalization effect (decline of VRE value as their penetration increases). We further review the role of electricity storage and other flexibility options for integrating variable renewables, and how storage can contribute to mitigating the two mentioned effects. We also use a stylized open-source model to provide some graphical intuition on this. While relatively high shares of VRE are achievable with moderate amounts of electricity storage, the role of long-term storage increases as the VRE share approaches 100%.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2020

Frequency and duration of low-wind-power events in Germany

In the transition to a renewable energy system, the occurrence of low-wind-power events receives increasing attention. We analyze the frequency and duration of such events for onshore wind power in Germany, based on 40 years of reanalysis data and open software. We find that low-wind-power events are less frequent in winter than in summer, but the maximum duration is distributed more evenly between months. While short events are frequent, very long events are much rarer. Every year, a period of around five consecutive days with an average wind capacity factor below 10% occurs, and every ten years a respective period of nearly eight days. These durations decrease if only winter months are considered. The longest event in the data lasts nearly ten days. We conclude that public concerns about low-wind-power events in winter may be overrated, but recommend that modeling studies consider multiple weather years to properly account for such events.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2020

Degrees of displacement: The impact of household PV battery prosumage on utility generation and storage

Reductions in the cost of PV and batteries encourage households to invest in PV battery prosumage. We explore the implications for the rest of the power sector by applying two open-source techno-economic models to scenarios in Western Australia for the year 2030. Household PV capacity generally substitutes utility PV, but slightly less so as additional household batteries are installed. Wind power is less affected, especially in scenarios with higher shares of renewables. With household batteries operating to maximise self-consumption, utility battery capacities are hardly substituted. Wholesale prices to supply households, including those not engaging in prosumage, slightly decrease, while prices for other consumers slightly increase. We conclude that the growth of prosumage has implications on the various elements of the power sector and should be more thoroughly considered by investors, regulators, and power sector planners.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2019

Prosumage of solar electricity: tariff design, capacity investments, and power system effects

We analyze how tariff design incentivizes households to invest in residential photovoltaic and battery systems, and explore selected power sector effects. To this end, we apply an open-source power system model featuring prosumage agents to German 2030 scenarios. Results show that lower feed-in tariffs substantially reduce investments in photovoltaics, yet optimal battery sizing and self-generation are relatively robust. With increasing fixed parts of retail tariffs, optimal battery capacities and self-generation are smaller, and households contribute more to non-energy power sector costs. When choosing tariff designs, policy makers should not aim to (dis-)incentivize prosumage as such, but balance effects on renewable capacity expansion and system cost contribution.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2019

Open Power System Data - Frictionless data for electricity system modelling

The quality of electricity system modelling heavily depends on the input data used. Although a lot of data is publicly available, it is often dispersed, tedious to process and partly contains errors. We argue that a central provision of input data for modelling has the character of a public good: it reduces overall societal costs for quantitative energy research as redundant work is avoided, and it improves transparency and reproducibility in electricity system modelling. This paper describes the Open Power System Data platform that aims at realising the efficiency and quality gains of centralised data provision by collecting, checking, processing, aggregating, documenting and publishing data required by most modellers. We conclude that the platform can provide substantial benefits to energy system analysis by raising efficiency of data pre-processing, providing a method for making data pre-processing for energy system modelling traceable, flexible and reproducible and improving the quality of original data published by data providers.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2018

On the economics of electrical storage for variable renewable energy sources

The use of renewable energy sources is a major strategy to mitigate climate change. Yet Sinn (2017) argues that excessive electrical storage requirements limit the further expansion of variable wind and solar energy. We question, and alter, strong implicit assumptions of Sinn's approach and find that storage needs are considerably lower, up to two orders of magnitude. First, we move away from corner solutions by allowing for combinations of storage and renewable curtailment. Second, we specify a parsimonious optimization model that explicitly considers an economic efficiency perspective. We conclude that electrical storage is unlikely to limit the transition to renewable energy.

physics.soc-ph↗