An electricity system with renewable, distributed generation: exploring future visions, barriers and drivers

Abstract

Due to concerns about climate change, and fossil fuel dependency there is an increasing interest in the transition from the current fossil fuel based electricity supply system towards an electricity supply system with an emphasis on renewable resources. Also in the Netherlands a transition towards an electricity supply system with a significant contribution of renewable distributed generation (RDG) gains interest. In order to guide the direction of this transition, shared future visions are necessary. Therefore, the objectives of this research are to explore future visions on an electricity supply system with significant RDG in order to assess the extent to which these visions are shared. This was done by exploring the content of the visions, and barriers that could stimulate or hamper the transition towards such a system. This data was collected via semi-structured qualitative interviews among selected actors. On individual vision level the alignment was relative low. The main similarities were found on the use of demand side management. Aligned clusters of visions that could be identified were on control types to balance the system and on the inclusion of storage.