Bi-directional soft-linking between a whole energy system model and a power systems model

Abstract

To decrabonise the entire energy system, introduction of large shares of variable renewable electricity generation will be needed. Long term energy system planing models are useful to improve the understanding of the decarbonisation pathways but struggle to take into the account the short term variations associated with the increased penetration of variable renewables. This can generate misleading signals regarding the levels of flexibility required in the system. This paper addresses this gap by a innovative bi-directional soft-linking methodology between a long term whole-energy system planing model (EnergyScope) and a multi-sectoral unit commitment and power dispatch model (Dispa-SET). The proposed methodology assesses the integration of short term variability, sizes the flexibility needs and analyses its strengths, limitations and applicability. Results of this study show that convergence criteria of the bi-directional soft-linking are met within two iterations meaning that the newly proposed system is stable and reliable.