Flexibility from Combined Heat and Power: A Techno-Economic Study for Fully Renewable Åland Islands

Tomi Thomasson, Kirsikka Kiviranta, Antton Tapani and Matti Tähtinen
Additional contact information
Tomi Thomasson: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., 40101 Jyväskylä, Finland
Kirsikka Kiviranta: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., 40101 Jyväskylä, Finland
Antton Tapani: Reteres Ltd., 41390 Salo, Finland
Matti Tähtinen: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., 40101 Jyväskylä, Finland

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 19, 1-19

Abstract: As energy systems globally are transitioning into renewable energy, simultaneous targets of high self-sufficiency have led to complex system design proposals. While conventional technology solutions would reduce the complexity in theory, limitations in the potential outcome may exist. To address this dilemma, the work quantified the systemic value provided by a conventional solution; biomass combined heat and power (CHP) production, in terms of economic feasibility, provided flexibility and energy self-sufficiency. The analysis focused on the renewable energy integration of the Åland Islands, where the synergetic island energy system is heavily increasing the wind power capacity. While considering local fuel resource availability, multiple alternative energy system scenarios were constructed. To evaluate the scenarios, the work developed and validated a combined dispatch and investment optimization model. The results showed that the studied conventional approaches limited the achievable self-sufficiency in the power sector (80.6%), however, considerably increasing the value from the present state (18.5%). Second, compared to previous studies, the results indicated a low value from biomass CHP in the wind-based energy system. Instead, the combination of high wind capacity and power-to-heat enabled the best economic feasibility and high self-sufficiency, which could be further improved by lower electricity taxation.

Keywords: combined heat and power; flexibility; island energy system; system optimization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/19/6423/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/19/6423/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:19:p:6423-:d:651578

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().