{"word_count": 574, "character_count": 3870}
Status of Power System Transformation 2018 edition. Paris : International Energy Agency, May 2018, 115 p. https://webstore.iea.org/status-of-power-system-transformation-2018Across the world, change is accelerating in power systems driven by the advent of low-cost, abundant wind and solar energy, the rise of distributed energy resources and increasing digitalization. These factors are leading to a structural shift in the way power systems are best planned and operated. In particular, they call for increased flexibility of power systems. Power system flexibility encompasses all relevant characteristics of a power system that facilitates the reliable and cost-effective management of variability and uncertainty in both supply and demand. A lack of system flexibility can reduce the resilience of power systems, or lead to the loss of substantial amounts of clean electricity through curtailment of VRE. Power plants play a critical role in enhancing system flexibility. Based on a wealth of real-life case studies and data, this report provides a comprehensive overview of how power plants can contribute to making power systems more flexible, while enhancing electricity security. It summarises the findings of the Advanced Power Plant Flexibility (APPF) campaign of the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM). The solutions presented in this study have been collected in close collaboration with industry stakeholders, including manufacturers, expert consultancies, system operators and plant operators.The European Single Market in Electricity: An Economic Assessment / Michael Pollitt. Energy Policy Research Group, May 2018, 23 p. (EPRG working paper 1815) https://www.eprg.group.cam.ac.uk/eprg-working-paper-1815/The European single market in electricity has been promoted vigorously by the European Commission since 1996. We discuss how national electricity markets and cross border electricity markets have been reshaped by the process. We examine the Commission’s own work on evaluating the benefits of the single market. We look at the wider evidence of impact on prices, security of supply, the environment and on innovation. We conclude that the institutional changes are extensive and there has been significant market harmonisation and integration. However, the measured benefits are difficult to identify, but likely to be small. This is partly because over the same period there has been a large rise in subsidised renewable generation driven by the decarbonisation agenda.Decarbonisation of heat in Europe: implications for natural gas demand / Anouk Honoré, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, May 2018, 64 p. (OIES paper : NG 130) https://www.oxfordenergy.org/publications/decarbonisation-heat-europe-implications-natural-gas-demand/The EU is committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 80-95 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050. So far, the electricity sector has been the main focus of low-carbon policies, but if Europe is to meet its objectives, decarbonisation efforts will need to expand to other sectors, including the heating and cooling sector. This sector is the largest single energy user in Europe. It covers half of the final energy demand of which 42 per cent comes from natural gas alone. If the lessons of the decarbonisation of the electricity sector are to be learnt, then the gas industry may want to pay particular attention to the effects that it will have on gas demand. One problem however is that the role of the heating sector in natural gas demand is not very well understood, which is essentially due to a lack of a specific definition and available data in most energy balances. The objective of this paper is to set the scene and provide a framework to study the heating (and cooling) sector in Europe, with a special focus on the implications for the natural gas industry, and especially for natural gas demand.