Replicability at International level. Application of GRID4EU SRA to California and Brazil

R. Cossent, A. Rodriguez, P. Frías

Summary:
Previous work within the GRID4EU project, evaluated the effect of different boundary conditions on the potential for upscaling and replication of the tested use cases focusing on the 6 demo countries, namely: Germany, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic and France. One of the lessons learnt from such an exercise was that, despite the fact that DSO size or ownership may vary greatly across Europe, the characteristics of distribution networks and operational approaches are relatively homogeneous across European countries. Therefore, the SRA results could be broadly applicable on a wider European context, provided the relevant parameters identified are considered. However, the applicability of the GRID4EU SRA rules to non-EU contexts, where the boundary conditions may be significantly different, could be more challenging. Addressing this concern, this report has evaluated the extent to which the aforementioned rules could be applied to other contexts. In order to perform such an analysis, two regions have been selected; the state of California (US) and Brazil. Both regions are active in terms of RES integration and smart grid deployment. Additionally, their distribution sectors and regulatory frameworks are distinctly different both among them and when compared to the European countries for which the SRA rules were developed. This provided suitable conditions for a wider analysis of the applicability and limitations of these rules. A comparative assessment between GRID4EU countries and the selected regions was performed, attending to the most relevant boundary conditions, i.e. those with a stronger impact on the KPIs. This comparison has allowed obtaining qualitative indications of the potential impact and suitability of GRID4EU solutions in Brazil and California. The assessment of the upscaling and replicability potential has been divided into two subsequent steps: i) evaluation of the effect of technical boundary conditions related to distribution networks and ii) characterization of non-technical boundary conditions related to regulatory frameworks and stakeholders aspects. The main conclusions drawn from each of these two steps are summarized on the ensuing. […]

IIT Project: GRID4EU_FP7 (GRID4EU_FP7)

Funding entity: Comisión Europea. FP7 - Cooperation / Energy

Publication date: 29-01-2016

IIT-16-064I