How will renewable power generation be affected by climate change? - The case of a metropolitan region in Northwest Germany

Jakob Wachsmuth, Andrew Blohm, Stefan Gößling-Reisemann, Tobias Eickemeier, Rebecca Gasper, Matthias Ruth, Sönke Stührmann

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Energy systems that primarily use wind and solar power production are in need of long-term storage of electricity and fully developed transmission grids. Moreover, they may be strongly affected by climate changes. We present two models that assess the impacts of climate change on solar and wind power generation and use them to evaluate climate projections based on the A1B scenario for Germany's Northwest Metropolitan Region. For these projections the seasonal profile of solar power production is not affected despite less cloud coverage during the summer, while the seasonal profile of wind power production has a more pronounced seasonal peak during the wint er due to slightly increasing wind speeds. We compare the obtained seasonal profiles to different scenarios for electricity demand. For each scenario we identify the ratio of wind and solar power generation that minimizes the variance of the residual load at the monthly time scale under the premise of a full supply by wind and solar power. Our results suggest that the need for long-term storage of electricity and the need for extensions of the transmission grid will even increase because of climate change impacts in the Northwest Metropolitan Region over the next century.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 25th International Conference on Efficiency, Cost, Optimization and Simulation of Energy Conversion Systems and Processes, ECOS 2012
PublisherAabo Akademi University
Pages71-87
Number of pages17
ISBN (Print)9788866553229
Publication statusPublished - 2012
Event25th International Conference on Efficiency, Cost, Optimization and Simulation of Energy Conversion Systems and Processes, ECOS 2012 - Perugia, Italy
Duration: 26 Jun 201229 Jun 2012

Publication series

NameProceedings of the 25th International Conference on Efficiency, Cost, Optimization and Simulation of Energy Conversion Systems and Processes, ECOS 2012
Volume8

Conference

Conference25th International Conference on Efficiency, Cost, Optimization and Simulation of Energy Conversion Systems and Processes, ECOS 2012
Country/TerritoryItaly
CityPerugia
Period26/06/1229/06/12

Keywords

  • Impact assessment models
  • Regional climate change
  • Renewable energy sources
  • Seasonal load profiles

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