Search

We simulate Finnish future energy system with large amounts of CHP (combined heat and power) and wind power. The Nordic countries have ambitious wind power targets, which means a substantial need for balancing power. One third of electricity in Finland is produced by CHP, and a large amount of nuclear power is running constantly as base load. There is significant correlation in wind power patterns across a large geographical area in Northern Europe, so the interconnected networks don't solve the balancing problem completely. A precautionary principle is to have ability to balance the electricity production and consumption on a national level. CHP with thermal storages could be economical and technically easy option for balancing. This alternative has been largely neglected in European studies. We simulate future wind power by upscaling existing hourly data. The economically optimal storage size was here found to be from the current 0.3% up to 30% of the total annual heat demand, depending on the wind power share and carbon trade price. We find that the use of economically optimal thermal storage can increase CHP production by 15% in the case of wind energy providing 24% of the total electricity production in Finland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finland has recently adopted a high profile in climate change mitigation. Finland has declared a national target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2035. As a part of this, the use of coal for energy purposes has been banned from year 2029 onwards. The Finnish electricity system is already very low-carbon, and more wind and nuclear power is being constructed. However, District heating (DH) is a backbone of the Finnish energy system, and it is still quite reliant on fossil fuels and domestic high-emission fuel peat, their share being 51% of DH fuels in 2018. This paper models the impacts of this transition on the electricity markets and DH systems and develops scenarios with a large-scale transition to wind and nuclear power and heat pumps in DH systems. The study finds that large-scale introduction of heat pumps would be profitable in cities Helsinki, Espoo, Turku and Vantaa, especially with the planned decrease of electricity tax. The study indicates that the impacts on Winter time capacity adequacy could be managed, but this requires considerable increases in nuclear and wind capacity. • Finland abandons hard coal use by 2029 as part of achieving carbon neutrality. • Increasing wind and nuclear power mitigates electricity price increase and capacity deficit. • Heat pumps can provide alternative to coal-CHP. • Electricity distribution fee and tax limit economic potential of heat pumps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]