Energy Savings Versus Energy Supply – Modelling Energy Systems

Danish energy policy includes ambitious targets for energy savings
that are important for reducing CO2-emissions and the dependency
of fossil fuels. Large saving potentials exist, however, excluding the
properties of energy supply with regard to marginal fuels and
marginal capital costs some may lead to socio-economic in-optimal
solutions. The project develops methods and models to address both
energy saving and energy supply to ensure optimality in investments
on both sides simultaneously. Dynamic aspects of costs curves and
energy system modelling will be essential.
The research
project running 2015-2018, will examine what makes Danish households and companies invest in energy saving solutions.
The objective of the PhD project is to understand key parameters related to energy saving and energy supply. This includes:
- Clarify the value of various types of energy savings linking to the energy supply fuels and technology costs.
- Building a tool to compare saving cost curves with supply cost curves in order to find trade-off between these when reaching certain renewable energy targets or fossil fuel reductions.
- Extending the energy system optimisation model Balmorel, to include energy saving investments and additional end-use sectors.
- Analyse different policy scenarios with the expanded Balmorel model.