Flexibility Assessment in Nuclear Energy dominated Systems with Increased Wind Energy Shares

This study analyses the system integration of wind energy in terms of balancing capacities, prices and power plants scheduling. The case study is the French power system, whose characteristics rely on high rates of nuclear power, with some ability to load-follow. The study evaluates several configurations of power plants in 2030 by using a dynamic optimization dispatching model with a highly detailed discrete-time formulation. Results show that operating the French power system with 28 GW of wind power by 2030 seems technically feasible but relies heavily on the capacity of nuclear reactors to follow variations, on storage applications to insure flexibility and on market capacity to allow generators to adapt continuously to the demand. Simulations show that for 11% wind power in the total generation by 2030, balancing the variation is less a matter of installing more flexible capacities, as load factors might decrease and reduce the investors’ interest when prices are relatively low. Balancing becomes more an issue of ramping rates and unit scheduling, power market regulation and real-time market interactions with the day-ahead and intra-day markets.JRC.F.6-Energy Technology Policy Outloo