Energy issues continue to be at the top of the agenda of European governments – developing more and more solar and wind parks is not only a desire, but also a necessity.
Efforts are confirmed by both national plans and announcements by developers about the construction of new parks. However, the willingness to build parks is one thing, but the ability to connect them to the network is quite another. The Latvian electricity network can only partially ensure the connection of new power stations. One of the limiting factors is and will be the challenge of balancing variable energy sources. Along with the renewable energy capacities, the flexibility of the electricity grid must also be developed.
Renewable energy will both strengthen and shake the industry
Solar and wind parks will both significantly improve the security of European energy supply and reduce the long-term price of energy. However, they are weather-dependent energy sources, the variability of which is a huge challenge for every European country – the more renewable electricity producers enter the market, the more complicated the work of transmission system operators and the power grid itself will become. The flexibility of the electrical network is a complex, dynamic and multidimensional system – the balance between production and consumption, including taking into account the transit flow, or capacity import and export. The overall system must be physically balanced to provide a certain frequency, namely 50 Hz, which is the common standard in Europe. By its very nature, the grid is designed for independent, easily predictable, centralized power generation, so in order for the energy supply to become stable, there is an urgent need to think about the flexibility and adaptability of the power grid to new players in the game. Power grid flexibility guarantors There are different ways to try to balance renewable energy resources. For example, by including them in a diversified portfolio of generating capacities. Also, modernize the grid, possibly using smart grid technologies and systems that predict production volumes and help adjust capacity. Another option is to develop energy storage technologies such as batteries that can be switched on and off on the fly. We must also mention Power-to-X energy equipment as a significant balancing tool on the consumption side. European Energy is currently actively developing Power-to-X projects in Denmark, and will probably look towards Latvia as well. Power-to-X technology converts energy and allows it to be stored in the form of green hydrogen and further e-methanol. Of course, there is another side to the balancing equation – the demand for these products. However, considering the growing needs for electricity, it is wiser to think about the possibilities of increasing the supply.
Everyone has their own space in the flexibility of the electrical network
The High Voltage Network is responsible for balancing the overall energy system, but the balancing costs are ultimately compensated by each energy producer as a fee for the imbalance it creates. The work of the high-voltage network is a big challenge – to create and develop the operation of a liquid and efficiently working balancing market, in which all participants of the energy system play an important role. Both producers and consumers, while not directly interfering with the operation of the electricity market itself. Perhaps, at some point, the costs of correcting the imbalance will be transferred to some extent to the developers of the renewable energy projects themselves. This will certainly lead to increased capital costs of their construction and will result in increased electricity prices.
However, the problem of the stability of the energy system and the flexibility of the electrical network is not only the concern of the High Voltage Network, but the joint task of all participants in the energy system. Everyone must contribute with their own contribution – High-voltage networks with the creation and maintenance of a liquid, functioning market mechanism, the Public Services Regulatory Commission with transparent approval and monitoring of this market mechanism, and market participants – with the offering of their generating and consuming resources. Only by joint efforts can we improve the energy system, without sitting like dogs on a haystack, solving individual problems.
According to Ohm and Kirchhoff, not the laws of politics
At the moment, we are still in the BRELL loop system of historical heritage, where deviations in the network are controlled by the power system operator in Russia. No later than 2025, it will be necessary to disconnect from this system, which is quite capable of maintaining the necessary frequency, to a system that is even larger and is managed in a much more decentralized manner. One of the requirements of the continental European system is the ability to work autonomously in emergency situations. So if we disconnect from BRELL, we need to be able to provide ourselves with emergency backups.
Energy is global in nature, there are some laws of physics that must be followed. Taking into account how large the proportion of offshore wind farm energy alone will be in the near future in relation to the total energy of the Baltic, we will have to be able to provide another energy system in principle in order to be able to balance the first one. In Latvia alone, we are talking about 1500 MW of offshore VES renewable electricity. The setup of the transmission system is worrying, however, that all producers of renewable energy are at risk of being disconnected from the energy system in a situation where the stability of its operation is threatened. In the situation of such a setup, it would be important for developers to understand the potential scenarios even before the decision to invest millions in the projects – in what order the outages will take place, how the losses for the renewable electricity not transferred to the networks will be compensated. If it is not physically possible to connect the produced energy to the common system, no one will risk such an investment. It is clear that investments in projects alone are not enough – knowledge is also needed to effectively and correctly manage the energy system with a large capacity of renewable energy resources in it. At the moment, we are still learning and looking for competence, because there are many issues to be resolved.
A sustainable energy system must be put together like a puzzle
Now is the high time to build a methodology for operational scenarios. In continental Europe, which we are about to join soon, this is an acute issue, but the rules of the game there are clear. On the other hand, we still need to develop them – we need to get to them as soon as possible, conduct public consultations and send them to the Public Service Regulatory Commission for approval. Therefore, a multilateral dialogue between developers, existing market participants, system operators and regulatory authorities is necessary. Only by developing a positive discussion and thinking about the system as a whole, we will be able to absorb and integrate quite large sources of renewable energy in Latvia and the Baltics.
Renewable energy resources have their role in the energy system not only from a political point of view, but also from an economic, environmental and overall system security point of view. If it is a sunny day, we must use this energy – we must not allow that we have nowhere to put this energy, and it does not reach the grid. That is why we, European Energy, are also working on the development of large-scale solar and wind energy projects around the world, in order to turn the resources provided by nature into a common good for all. It is clear that there is still a challenge created by the nature of renewable resources, however, by arranging the system accordingly, there is no doubt that the engineers will cope with it. And it is even good that we are gradually strengthening the renewable energy capacities and the energy system. Everything is not necessary at once. Let’s be brave and let the engineering minds work. And, of course, we will support a political program in which there is neither excessive stimulation nor unreasonable restrictions. Everything has to be in balance!
