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08/14/2023 | Campus-Meldung

Expansion of electricity grids: Requirements for distribution system operators

The energy transition is placing new demands on power grids. A team of scientists led by Prof. Dr. Martin Braun, head of the research department Network Planning and Operation at Fraunhofer IEE and professor at the University of Kassel, has developed a comprehensive model for eastern Germany and Hamburg to determine what the local networks will have to do in the future. In the calculations, all available information on new electricity consumers and generators is bundled and combined into an overall situation. The result is now a spatially highly resolved scenario for the eastern region. This forms the basis for the legally required network expansion plans of the distribution network operators.

Image: Adobe Stock/Andreas Gruhl.

The fact that today, in isolated cases, grid operators are already delaying the connection of new consumers makes it clear how important good planning is. "What is clear, however, is that serious changes in the power supply can be expected by 2045 as a result of the electrification of all sectors and the expansion of wind and solar for a significant increase in electricity consumption. Heat pumps, charging stations, wind power and photovoltaic systems, and storage are currently being expanded on a large scale and will be connected to the power grid. For this to work, the distribution grid must be transformed. The large number of decentralized players makes the investments particularly complex," notes Prof. Dr. Martin Braun, head of the Network Planning and Operation research area at Fraunhofer IEE and professor of energy management and electrical network operation at the University of Kassel. "In the complex and variable planning landscape, many grid operators see the need for automated grid planning tools such as those we have developed and tested in several power grid studies."

In order to map the small-scale generation and consumption structures and thus optimize grid expansion, very precise estimates of future demand are needed. "Spatially high-resolution scenarios down to the level of local grid transformers help to make the expansion of distribution grids more plannable. As Fraunhofer IEE, we have developed a model landscape consisting of various modules for the planning region East," explains Dr. Carsten Pape, Group Leader Scenarios and System Modeling, Fraunhofer IEE. "Central influencing variables are estimates of the connection of new power generation plants and new consumers such as e-vehicles and heat pumps, through to the transformation of district heating, industrial process heat and electrolysis plants. The aim is to bundle a huge available regionalized database and combine it in one model" said Pape.

The complete press release can be found  here on the website of the Fraunhofer IEE.

 

Technical contact:

Dr. Carsten Pape, Group Leader Scenarios and System Modeling
Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology IEE
Department of Energy Meteorology and Geoinformation Systems
E-mail: carsten.pape@iee.fraunhofer.de