What would be the highestelectrical loads with -20°C inStockholm in 2022 ? : A study of the sensitivity of electrical loads to outdoor temperature in Stockholm region.

Sammanfattning:  In the last 10 years, no significant increase in the peak electricity consumption of the region of Stockholm has been observed, despite new customers being connected to the grid. But, as urbanization continues and with electrification being a decisive step of decarbonization pathways, more growth is expected in the future. However, the Swedish Transmission System Operator (TSO), Svenska Kraftnat, can only supply a limited power to Stockholm region. Distribution System Operators (DSOs) such as Vattenfall Eldistribution, which operates two thirds Stockholm region's distribution grid, need to find solutions to satisfy an increasing demand with a limited power supply. In these times, forecasting the worst-case scenarios, i.e., the highest possible loads, becomes a critical question. In Sweden, peak loads are usually triggered by the coldest temperatures, but the recent winters have been mild: this brings uncertainty about a possible underlying temperature adjusted growth that would be masked by relatively warm winters. Answering the question 'What would be the highest loads in 2022 with -20°C in Stockholm region ?' could help Vattenfall Eldistribution estimating the flexibility needed nowadays and designing the future grid with the necessary grid reinforcements. This master thesis uses a data-driven approach based on eleven years of hourly data on the period 2010-2021 to investigate the temperature sensitivity of aggregated electricity load in Stockholm region. First, an exploratory analysis aims at quantifying how large the growth has been in the past ten years and at understanding how and when peak loads occur. The insights obtained help design two innovative regression techniques that investigate the evolution of the loads across years and provide first estimates of peak loads. Then, a Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average with eXogenous regressors (SARIMAX) process is used to model a full winter of load as a function of temperatures. This third method provides new and more reliable estimates of peak loads in 2022 at e.g. -20°C. Eventually, the SARIMAX estimates are kept and a synthesis of the global outlooks of the three methods and possible extensions of the SARIMAX method is presented in a final section. The results conclude on a significant increase in the load levels in southern Stockholm ('Stockholm Sodra') between 2010 and 2015 and stable evolution onwards, while the electric consumption in Northern Stockholm remained stable during the period 2010-2021. During a very cold winter, the electricity demand is expected to exceed the subscription levels during about 300h in Stockholm Sodra and 200h in Stockholm Norra. However, this will be a rare occurrence, which suggests that short-term solutions could be privileged rather than costly grid extension work. Many questions arise, and the capability of local heat & power production and electricity prices signals to regulate today's demand are yet to investigate. Additional work exploring future demand scenarios at a smaller scale could also be contemplated.