IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - November/December 2019 - 77

Average electricity prices will continue to be competitive
and regionally aligned, even with the whole region
adopting green energy.
Energinet investigates further sector coupling to determine what a cost-optimized, fossil-free future energy system with all sectors coupled might look like. For this, the
sector-coupled energy system has been modeled through
so-called energy plants of different sizes. The energy plants
can be understood as extended CHP units with more functionalities, such as electrolysis and gasification. They deliver
more than just electricity and heat and operate at low prices
as consumers of electricity, while they shift at high prices to
become producers of electricity (Figure 10).
ENTSO's underlying EU scenarios point at a further significant increase of wind/solar energy in the entire North Seas
region, which reduces options to share large amounts of VREs
across countries with highly correlated VREs. A typical example is that north-south exchange corridors for wind energy
might be congested at times when fronts of (typical) west
wind approach several neighboring countries simultaneously.
Nevertheless, results show that average electricity prices will
continue to be competitive and regionally aligned, even with

Average Electricity Price
(DKK/MWh)

the whole region adopting green energy (Figure 11). However,
there will be periods with extremely high or low prices due
to weather conditions, faults, or maintenance activities. These
periods increase economic opportunities to install flexible
electricity demand, such as heat pumps, power-to-gas devices,
or power-to-X applications. These devices can convert inexpensive electricity via electrolysis and a parallel gasification
of organic material or synthesis with nitrogen into high-value
products such as fuel, fertilizers, and plastic, which traditionally are produced based on oil or natural gas (Figure 1). This
is expected to be possible at competitive prices, as the leveled
cost of energy of VREs is expected to be well below prices
for natural gas by 2030 and technology developed for electrolysis is accelerating. The right level of sector coupling can
even help to increase the value of VREs, which is important
for producers who want to recover their costs, while low electricity prices are necessary for the electrolysis, i.e., hydrogen
production, needed for, e.g., biofuel or ammonia production to
supply heavy transport.

RES Share
0-30%
30-40%
40-50%
50-60%
60-70%
70-80%
80-90%
90-100%

< 300
300-320
320-340
340-360
360-380
380-400
> 400

Average Electricity Prices
(a)

RES Share
(b)

figure 11. The (a) averages prices and (b) RES share for Europe in 2040 according to the ENTSO-E's Ten-Year Network
Development Plan 2018 projection. (Source: Energinet with data from ENTSO-E's "Sustainable Transition" Scenario 2040;
used with permission.)
november/december 2019

ieee power & energy magazine

IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - November/December 2019

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