Modeling and Simulation of Smart Energy Systems: Sustainability of Energy Systems

At a global level, it is essential that the world transfers from fossil fuels to renewable energy resources to minimize the implications of climate change, which has been clearly demonstrated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007a). At a national level, for most countries, the transition to renewable energy will improve energy security of supply, create new jobs, enhance trade, and consequently grow the national economy. However, even with such promising consequences, renewable energy only provided approximately 13% of the world's energy in 2007 (International Energy Agency, 2009a). Therefore, identifying how to utilize more renewable energy is one of the most pressing challenges facing many countries at present.

Owing to the ever-growing complexity of modern energy systems, energy-system-analysis tools are often used to analyze the potential of renewable energy in future energy systems. As renewable energy becomes more prominent, more energy-system-analysis tools are being created. The key element in this transfer is often to show coherent technical analyses of how renewable energy can be implemented, and what effects renewable energy has on other parts of the energy system. However, when beginning an investigation into the potential of renewable energy, it is difficult to identify which energy-system-analysis tool is the most suitable one for the investigation. As a result, a selection of energy tools will be presented here to illustrate the type modeling that is possible for renewable energy systems and also to illustrate the variety of energy tools that exist. For example, some tools focus on local community energy projects, whereas others consider national energy systems; some tools consider the annual amount of energy being consumed, whereas others focus on the hourly operation of the system. The variety of tools available has led to the conclusion that the optimum tool for a study is very dependent on the initial objectives that have been set.

This article (i) gives an overview/review of a number of different energy tools and models and (ii) provides a deeper description of one of these tools (EnergyPLAN) along with the methodology followed with it. EnergyPLAN has been used to establish how intermittent renewable energy, primarily in the form of wind power, can be accommodated in Denmark while reliably operating the electric grid. In addition, various case studies are presented on individual technologies and complete energy system strategies, which outline how it is possible to reach a 100% renewable energy system in the coming decades.