Reviewing energy system modelling of decentralized energy autonomy

Jann Michael Weinand*, Fabian Scheller, Russell McKenna

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

71 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Research attention on decentralized autonomous energy systems has increased exponentially in the past three decades, as demonstrated by the absolute number of publications and the share of these studies in the corpus of energy system modelling literature. This paper shows the status quo and future modelling needs for research on local autonomous energy systems. A total of 359 studies are investigated, of which a subset of 123 in detail. The studies are assessed with respect to the characteristics of their methodology and applications, in order to derive common trends and insights. Most case studies apply to middle-income countries and only focus on the supply of electricity in the residential sector. Furthermore, many of the studies are comparable regarding objectives and applied methods. Local energy autonomy is associated with high costs, leading to levelized costs of electricity of 0.41 $/kWh on average. By analysing the studies, many improvements for future studies could be identified: the studies lack an analysis of the impact of autonomous energy systems on surrounding energy systems. In addition, the robust design of autonomous energy systems requires higher time resolutions and extreme conditions. Future research should also develop methodologies to consider local stakeholders and their preferences for energy systems. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Original languageEnglish
Article number117817
Number of pages24
JournalEnergy
Volume203
Early online date11 May 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Jul 2020

Bibliographical note

Fabian Scheller receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 713683 (COFUNDfellowsDTU). Russell McKenna and Fabian Scheller kindly acknowledge the financial support of the FlexSUS Project (Project nbr. 91352), which has received funding in the framework of the joint programming initiative ERA-Net Smart Energy Systems’ focus initiative Integrated, Regional Energy Systems, with support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 775970. Russell McKenna also gratefully acknowledges the support of the Smart City Accelerator project. The usual disclaimer applies.

Keywords

  • 100% renewable
  • Energy autonomy
  • Energy system analysis
  • Levelized cost of electricty
  • Literature review
  • Municipality
  • Off-grid systems
  • Remote area
  • DISTRICT-HEATING SYSTEM
  • GRID RURAL ELECTRIFICATION
  • REMOTE AREAS
  • FUEL-CELL
  • TECHNOECONOMIC FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS
  • WIND-BATTERY SYSTEM
  • ALONE SOLAR-WIND
  • HYBRID RENEWABLE ENERGY
  • POWER-SYSTEMS
  • PUMPED HYDRO STORAGE

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