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With an increasing ratio of variable renewable energies in Germany, power supply has to be ensured by providing flexibility from controllable supply and demand energy conversion units. For residual electricity supply, utilities in the industrial sector or flexible biogas plants may be suitable flexibility options. To describe and rate different technologies or utilities in terms of their ability to provide flexibility, a definition of flexibility and an innovative method to describe flexibility considering the grid requirements is elaborated. The method is based on a solid definition of flexibility indicators suitable for all technologies. For an increased flexibility, in many cases, it is reasonable to add supporting technologies like a storage to a utility or biogas combined heat and power (CHP). Such utility configurations can also be described with the elaborated method. The method can also make a valuable contribution to all distribution systems or utility system modellers as it can be taken as a basis for the modelling. In this study, the definition of flexibility indicators is described in detail and used on the example of a biogas CHP plant.
The further expansion of renewable energies in Germany requires flexible consumers to balance fluctuations in electricity production from variable renewable energies. Cold storage warehouses, due to their inherent storage capacity and widespread use, are well-suited for integrating more renewable energies. The potential of cold storage warehouses is often viewed in isolation and not in conjunction with the cold chain’s upstream and downstream processes. By adjusting the temperatures within the processes, the individual links in the cold chain can be made flexible. To assess the effects of flexibilization on emissions and electricity costs, thermodynamic models of the individual links in the cold chain and of a yogurt pallet are developed and linked together. Due to temperature fluctuations in the products resulting from the flexibilization, emission evaluations must be considered throughout the cold chain. Results of the simulation for the study period show that emissions reductions and electricity cost savings can be achieved in all three links when they are made flexible. However, the savings vary in magnitude. Only minor savings can be achieved in the cooling tunnel. The greatest potential for savings is in refrigerated transport, if deeper cooling occurs in the process before, i.e., in the cold storage warehouse.