EU-DEEP project: The birth of a EUropean Distributed EnErgy Partnership

07/09/2009

The European 20-20-20 targets are expected to trigger an acceleration in the development of Distributed Energy Resources (DER). DER are located close to the point of consumption, irrespective of the technology, but are smaller than 10 MWe of electrical power. They comprises distributed generation (DG), the storage of electrical and thermal energy and/or flexible loads. DER units are operated either independently of the electrical grid or connected to the low or medium voltage distribution level of the main network.

This change of pace raises new questions for the different actors involved in the electrical system:
How will regulated network managers re-engineer their own practices? What new business models will emerge for energy producers and retailers? What impact will DER have on customer behaviour?

After 5 years of research involving 42 partners from 16 countries, the EU-DEEP consortium coordinated by GDF SUEZ is now in a position to detail the conditions under which all players will be able to cope with the growing demand for DER units. Firstly, the project has identified the current “hosting capacity” of the electrical power system and the conditions that will enable this to be increased at an acceptable cost. Following this, an in-depth economic analysis of DER reveals that they can provide significant added value for the electrical system when they comply with network design constraints and contribute, in a reliable way, to better management of peak consumption. Using three aggregation business models extensively tested in the field, the project highlights the most promising directions to take from now on, to ensure efficient and sustainable integration of DER in the current electrical power system.

The results of the EU-DEEP project published in the dedicated book have been presented in Brussels on June, 22nd 2009. A webinar facility was offered by the PRESSENSAVE project to broadcast the event live. The recorded webcast, the detailed results of the project and the book order form are available in the new interactive website www.eu-deep.com.

EU-DEEP conclusions pave the way for the achievement of the 20-20-20 targets and contribute to enhancing different stakeholders’ practices, whilst pinpointing the new areas of knowledge required in order to keep expanding on DER integration.

Contact EU-DEEP project coordinator:
Mr. Gillles Bourgain
gilles.bourgain@gdfsuez.com
www.expandder.com

ExpandDER is an association to disseminate the EU-DEEP results and manage the intellectual property of the project.

PDF version of the Press Release