Unlocking new flexible power in the Dutch industry to contribute to the balance of the power system
Summary
In order to combat the rise of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere, countries worldwide are setting targets to transition from a fossil-fuel intensive to an energy system that is increasingly based on renewable energy sources. However, the increase in Variable Renewable Energy (VRE) sources causes disbalance in the power system, resulting in a key challenge: where initially power production needed to meet consumption, the energy transition implies that consumption now needs to meet production. Demand side management from flexible energy consumers is crucial in this arising challenge. Flexible potential can be unlocked by integrating flexible capacity in an aggregator pool. This thesis analyses Dutch industry sectors, where flexibility is already utilised in some industry sectors, while other sectors still show potential to unlock flexibility. Based on data analysis, a literature review and 17 semi-structured interviews with experts representing Dutch industry sectors, power load profiles and flexibility options of different sectors were determined. Furthermore, through the lens of a case study, the economic benefit of utilising flexibility within a water board company was analysed through a model in Microsoft Excel. This resulted in a list of suitable flexibility options within the sectors that are still to be unlocked. The results show that utilising flexibility was significantly economically viable, yet care should be taken in interpreting results as generalisation of industries is difficult in the water board sector. It is recommended that further research is done on improving the flexibility of the power system. The findings of this research suggest a great unused potential for the industry sector to contribute to the arising disbalance in the power system.