Integrating Variable Renewable Energy in Electric Power Markets: Best Practices from International Experience
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Many countries—reflecting very different geographies, markets, and power systems—are successfully managing high levels of variable renewable energy on the electric grid, including that from wind and solar energy. This study documents the diverse approaches to effective integration of variable renewable energy among six countries—Australia (South Australia), Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Spain, and the United States (Colorado and Texas)—and summarizes policy best practices that energy ministers and other stakeholders can pursue to ensure that electricity markets and power systems can effectively coevolve with increasing penetrations of variable renewable energy. There is no one-size-fits-all approach; each country has crafted its own combination of policies, market designs, and system operations to achieve the system reliability and flexibility needed to successfully integrate renewables. Notwithstanding this diversity, the approaches all coalesce around five strategic areas: lead public engagement, particularly for new transmission; coordinate and integrate planning; develop rules for market evolution that enable system flexibility; expand access to diverse resources and geographic footprint of operations; and improve system operations. The study also emphatically underscores the value of countries sharing their experiences. The more diverse and robust the experience base from which a country can draw, the more likely that it will be able to implement an appropriate, optimized, and system-wide approach.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- OSTI ID:
- 1041369
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/TP--6A20-53732
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Integrating Variable Renewable Energy in Electric Power Markets: Best Practices from International Experience, Summary for Policymakers
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Related Subjects
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
ECOSYSTEMS
ELECTRIC POWER
ELECTRICITY
FLEXIBILITY
MARKET
PLANNING
POWER SYSTEMS
RELIABILITY
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
SOLAR ENERGY
balancing authority areas
flexibility
grid integration
high penetration
planning
public engagement
system operation
systems integration
transmission
variable renewable energy
wind