The impact of battery storage in the European power system towards 2050 : Economic analyses and simulations based on an RTE scenario of Energy Pathways to 2050

Sammanfattning: Governmental goals have set the objective of carbon neutrality to 2050 for France. To reach this target, the power system must be reconsidered. RTE, the French Transmission System Operator explored potential trajectories for the French energy mix towards 2050 in a report called Energy Pathways to 2050. This report presents the transformations of European power system due to the integration of a carbon-neutral energy mix, including at least 50% of renewable energy sources. This thesis focuses on a particular asset of the power system: the stationary batteries. It aims at capturing the impacts of batteries in a 2050 scenario in which renewables are diffusely distributed across France, relying on solar power to a large extent. This project focuses on one scenario of Energy Pathways to 2050 because it considers the largest solar power capacity for France (214 GW) which is supposed to be linked to battery deployment. During this project, a model of stationary batteries with a storage time of four hours has been built on Antares Simulator to perform power dispatch optimization. The performed simulations confirms that the stationary batteries are useful to absorb the overproduction during solar power production peak. By storing energy during daytime and releasing it during night hours, batteries can reduce the need for peaking gas production, mostly located in the neighboring countries of France. Batteries can also contribute to congestion management by absorbing part of the renewable production that needs to be exported, putting less strain on power lines of the large-scale transmission grid. However, the congestion management function of batteries is relatively limited and batteries cannot compete with grid reinforcements. Nevertheless, the investment in batteries can be complementary to grid reinforcements in areas with large solar power capacity. The reduction of overall production costs and redispatch costs is larger when batteries are allocated in areas where curtailment of solar power is more frequent.