EASE Study on Power System Challenges of Islands and Isolated Systems with High Shares of Variable Renewables

The deployment of renewable energy, particularly variable renewables such as wind and solar PV, is expected to increase dramatically across Europe in the coming years. The EU institutions have set a target for renewable energy sources consumption of 32% by 2030.

To fulfil these aspirations, most power systems will have to deal with operational limitations that prevent large amounts of non-synchronous generation from being integrated into the energy mix at any given time. These limitations have already been identified by grid operators in islands in Europe, e.g. in Ireland, the UK, French overseas islands, and the Canary Islands; as well as overseas, e.g. in Australia and Texas (isolated system).

Island systems are interesting case studies, as they are the first to experience the challenges associated with high shares of non-synchronous generation. Since they tend to have limited to no interconnections, islands have to rely more on other flexibility options to ensure the secure and cost-efficient operation of their energy system: flexible thermal generation, demand-response, and energy storage. Indeed, islands have seen some of the first commercial deployments of energy storage systems, due to a clear business case.

The challenges faced by islands today can be highly instructive for interconnected energy systems, which will have to tackle the challenges of integrating high shares of variable renewables in the coming decades. EASE has therefore produced a study of some of the key power system challenges faced by islands today, which will be accompanied by an analysis of some of the solutions from the energy storage sector.