IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - November/December 2019 - 78

What is needed for sector coupling to take off is the
market providing the right signals, regulatory rules not
hampering cross-sector interaction, and attractive locations with infrastructures of several sectors close enough
to each other to offer opportunities to build the missing
links. The first pilot projects have already emerged, such
as Greenlab, a business park in central Denmark where
several companies interact via several infrastructures and
exchange their (surplus) energy products, such as heat,
electricity, biogas, hydrogen, oxygen, steam, methane,
and biofuel. Country-scale investigations are ongoing as
to how an additional massive amount of offshore wind
could best be integrated, including considerations of
transformation into other forms of energy at suitable locations. International investigations propose that this transformation could already take place offshore, on energy
islands, or on hubs, as proposed by the North Sea Wind
Power Hub idea, which even might connect several countries and send energy to where it is needed and where the
market price is best.
When going toward a 100% VRE energy system, the sector coupling is essential for the electricity system: potential
bottlenecks in the grid can be resolved while, at the same time,
accessing low-cost storage facilities in gas or heat systems.
Heat at high temperatures from some conversion processes
could directly be used in steam turbines, which could deliver
regulating power, ancillary services, or peak load capacity.
This might lead to a reduced need for traditional power plants
running during low electricity price periods in standby mode,
without losing options to provide ancillary services. In the
case in which these plants deliver grid reserve, utilizing the
transmission grid could be increased as well.

Summary
Cross-sector system integration is essential in the decarbonization and mitigation of climate-change impacts. However,
the challenge of sector integration lies in the development of
scalable, effective methods of co-optimization across these
sectors. Historically, very little operational flexibility existed
in distribution and end use, and grid operations focused
on forecasting inelastic demand and balancing with supply. The proliferation of smart meters, smart home devices,
EVs, distributed generation, and storage will challenge the
current paradigm of data management and optimization for
operations and control. In addition, cross-sector integration
introduces a new synergistic flexibility that will increase as
electrification proceeds. Within these systems, energy-management systems must be informed and controlled in each
sector to provide operational flexibility. Optimization methods for coordinated decision making within multilevel energy
systems and between integrated sectors will require appropriate information sharing and algorithms that are solvable
in reasonable computation time. This paradigm will produce
and leverage data increasingly, which must be both protected
on behalf of the consumer and used for decision making. It
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is also worth noting that devices and algorithms are not a
complete solution. Cross-sector integration will also increase
consumer involvement, such as activating demand-side flexibility via decentralized markets and markets for ancillary
services. The inclusion of new market players and business
models will be a part of innovative solutions. All measures
must be facilitated by digital market processes, allowing free
data and low transaction costs. Understanding the needs and
motivations of all stakeholders in the integrated energy system will be critical for achieving large-scale impact.

For Further Reading
Energinet, "System perspective 2035." Fredericia, Denmark.
Accessed on: Sept. 1, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://en
.energinet.dk/Analysis-and-Research/Analyses/System
-Perspective-2035
ENTSO-E, "European ten-year-network-development plan
TYNDP2018," Brussels, Belgium. Accessed on: Sept. 1, 2019.
[Online]. Available: https://tyndp.entsoe.eu/tyndp2018/
L. van Nuffel, "Sector coupling: How can it be enhanced
in the EU to foster grid stability and decarbonise?" TRINOMICS, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Accessed on: Sept. 1, 2019.
[Online]. Available: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/
etudes/STUD/2018/626091/IPOL_STU(2018)626091_EN.pdf
T. Brown, D. Schlachtberger, A. Kies, S. Schramm, and
M. Greiner, "Synergies of sector coupling and transmission
reinforcement in a cost-optimised, highly renewable European energy system," Energy, vol. 160, pp. 720-739, Oct.
2018. doi: 10.1016/j.energy.2018.06.222.
PJM, "PJM's evolving resource mix and system reliability,"
PJM, Audubon, PA. Accessed on: Sept. 1, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.pjm.com/~/media/library/reports-notices/
special-reports/20170330-pjms-evolving-resource-mix-and
-system-reliability.ashx
S. Heinen, D. Burke, and M. J. O'Malley, "Electricity, gas,
heat integration via residential hybrid heating technologies-
An investment model assessment," Energy, vol. 109, pp. 906-
919, 2016. doi: 10.1016/j.energy.2016.04.126.

Biographies
Antje Orths is with Energinet, Fredericia, Denmark.
C. Lindsay Anderson is with Cornell University, Ithaca,
New York.
Tom Brown is with KIT, Karlsruhe, Germany.
Joseph Mulhern is with PJM Interconnection, Audubon,
Pennsylvania.
Danny Pudjianto is with Imperial College, London,
United Kingdom.
Bernhard Ernst is with Fraunhofer IEE, Kassel, Germany.
Mark O'Malley is with the National Renewable Energy
Laboratory, Denver, Colorado.
James McCalley is with Iowa State University, Ames.
Goran Strbac is with Imperial College, London, United
Kingdom.
p&e

november/december 2019

https://en.energinet.dk/Analysis-and-Research/Analyses/System-Perspective-2035 https://en.energinet.dk/Analysis-and-Research/Analyses/System-Perspective-2035 https://en.energinet.dk/Analysis-and-Research/Analyses/System-Perspective-2035 https://tyndp.entsoe.eu/tyndp2018/ http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2018/626091/IPOL_STU(2018)626091_EN.pdf http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2018/626091/IPOL_STU(2018)626091_EN.pdf https://www.pjm.com/~/media/library/reports-notices/special-reports/20170330-pjms-evolving-resource-mix-and-system-reliability.ashx https://www.pjm.com/~/media/library/reports-notices/special-reports/20170330-pjms-evolving-resource-mix-and-system-reliability.ashx https://www.pjm.com/~/media/library/reports-notices/special-reports/20170330-pjms-evolving-resource-mix-and-system-reliability.ashx

IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - November/December 2019

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