04/26/2023
Source: Energy & Management Powernews
The German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE) calls on the German government to further develop the current power plant strategy into a holistic flexibility strategy.
On the occasion of the announcements of the Ministry of Economics (BMWK) on the planned power plant strategy, the German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE) has prepared a thesis paper. In it, he recommends to holistically examine the flexibility options in the energy system and to use already existing potentials of renewable energies.
As the Platform for Climate-Neutral Electricity Market Design (PKNS) still needs some time to produce a result, the BEE fears that the power plant strategy announced for this year will lead to overcapacities of gas-fired power plants and a "fossil lock-in" with high economic costs.
Developing decentralization and flexibility
"The growing share of renewables is permanently changing the nature of the energy industry: decentralized energies such as photovoltaics and wind power are providing ever larger windows of low-cost electricity, while flexible and controllable power is increasingly needed in times of low feed-in in the electricity system," explained BEE President Simone Peter. Sector coupling through electrification increases electricity demand on the one hand, but at the same time creates additional options for flexible control and opportunities to "use green power instead of curtailing it."
The positive effect for the national economy of the market price reduction ("merit order effect") by renewable energies steadily lowers the proceeds from it on the electricity market, Peter said. "A shrinking economic basis thus deprives the further expansion of renewable energies of its foundation," Peter fears. That's why, in the future, incentives must be set for flexible provision of electricity on the supply and demand side and the growing system responsibility of renewable energies must be used, he said.
Therefore, the new electricity market system should use flexibilities as a cornerstone, he said. The German government's power plant strategy should create the conditions for a new power plant park that uses hydrogen-capable gas-fired power plants as back-up in the future.
If these now come too soon, the BEE fears that structural problems from the old power system will be carried over into the future, such as redispatch. Instead, controllable elements should be expanded on the generation side, but also on the consumer side, and sector coupling technologies, storage, load management or grid infrastructure should also be built.
Theses of the BEE for alternatives to new gas-fired power plants
- In a climate-neutral electricity system, the supplementation of decentralized renewable energies with a preferably decentralized instead of a centralized back-up system is more purposeful.
- Instead of creating new overcapacities of gas-fired power plants, a "no-regret strategy" should be pursued, according to which only the mandatory number of gas-fired power plants are built.
- A sole focus on hydrogen-capable gas-fired power plants risks a fossil lock-in as well as high electricity prices due to the initially limited availability of climate-friendly hydrogen.
- Instead of new gas-fired power plants, domestic potentials of bioenergy should be used for the time being, especially through a preservation and flexibilization of existing biomass CHP plants.
- Further decentralized flexibility potentials, such as batteries and storage, renewable CHP, the use of bivalent storage, targeted sector coupling, controllable hydropower plants and geothermal energy, as well as small, grid-serving electrolysers and power-to-heat plants should also come online.
- The basis for flexible deployment is the economic viability of renewable plants. This must be ensured in the new electricity market design in view of falling market values, as observed in the existing electricity market system.
Author: Susanne Harmsen
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