Description
Increased awareness of the global climate crisis and recent focus on energy security have led to a rapid acceleration of the green transition of the energy systems around the world. Many countries have taken ambitious initiatives to meet the Paris climate agreement with the aim of limiting global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels. In addition, the recent Ukraine crisis has called for urgent alternatives to European dependence on imported oil and gas. For many countries, the cornerstone of the effort is to transform their energy system into a sustainable infrastructure based on renewable energy from primarily wind and solar.Such a transition to a renewable energy-based system requires extensive innovation to ensure an affordable, clean and secure energy system. Energy needs, especially for transport and heating, must be electrified where possible, and the electricity system will play an increasingly important role as the main energy backbone. Installed solar and wind power capacity must be significantly increased to cover both existing and new demand. For hard-to-abate sectors, such as aviation and ocean-going ships, where electrification is not a viable option, solutions for production of green fuels (Power-to-X) need to be developed. The entire energy system must be more integrated, market-based and flexible in order to utilize the renewable energy efficiently and intelligently.
In this talk, the author will present the case of the Danish energy system. Denmark will reduce its CO2 emissions by 70 percent in 2030 compared to the 1990 level and be net zero in 2050. The current wind and solar energy penetration in the Danish electricity system is 50%, and the installed capacity of solar and wind energy on land will have to quadruple by 2030 to achieve the targets. In addition, an increase in offshore wind capacity by 15 times (at least 35 GW) by 2050 is foreseen, and the government has given a mandate to establish the world's first two offshore energy hubs to utilize the enormous wind resources in the North and Baltic Sea for energy exports and green fuel production.
An overview of key research challenges and examples of proposed technical solutions will be given in the lecture. This includes local flexibility markets for distributed energy resources, including electric vehicles and heat pumps, efficient system integration of Power-to-X into the electrical system, design principles for converter-dominated power grids as offshore energy hubs, and new tools benefitting from recent developments in artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
| Period | 29 Jul 2022 |
|---|---|
| Event title | 2022 International Conference on Renewable Energies and Smart Technologies |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Tirana, AlbaniaShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |