Browsing by Author "Olkkonen, Ville"

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Abandoning peat in a city district heat system with wind power, heat pumps, and heat storage
(2022-11) Javanshir, Nima; Syri, Sanna; Teräsvirta, Antti; Olkkonen, Ville
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
The Finnish Government has established the target of carbon-neutrality by 2035. In Finland, district heating (DH) networks in most cities rely on carbon dioxide (CO2) intensive fuels such as coal and domestic peat. This study assesses the decarbonization of a Finnish city's DH by employing power-to-heat (P2H) technologies, including heat pumps, an electric boiler, and thermal storage together with an ambitious building energy renovation program. This study also aims to use wind power with a calculated fixed price instead of the market price for the electricity consumption of the deployed P2H units to further support electrification and decarbonization of the DH network. Bilateral contract between the wind producer and the DH operator is examined, as new wind power producers receive no subsidies in Finland. The impacts of storage capacity, electricity tax, building-level renovation, and European CO2 emission allowance (EUA) price on the DH's optimal operation and break-even price of heat production were evaluated. The optimization routine minimizes marginal production costs. The optimal scenario eliminated the carbon intensive fuel peat with more affordable heat prices, due to P2H technologies, lower electricity tax, higher EUA prices, and the renovation of buildings. Bilateral electricity contract can bring mutual benefits for the DH company and the wind producer.
Hajautetun pientuotannon ilmastovaikutukset pohjoismaisessa energiajärjestelmässä
(2013) Olkkonen, Ville
School of Engineering | Master's thesis
The Nordic national climate and energy strategies aims to reduce the environmental loads caused by the buildings heating demand by using energy more efficiently and increasing the use of renewable energy sources, which can be attributed to the promotion of small scale distributed energy generation. This thesis examines the production phase climate impacts of small scale distributed energy generation technologies in the Nordic energy system. The analysis to determine short and potential long-term climate impacts has been performed by using life cycle analysis based on CLCA methodology and energy system analysis. These tools have been applied to model the climate impacts caused by the market dynamics and physical energy flows of the Nordic energy system. Consequently, a model that describes the current and potential future Nordic energy system was developed. In the short-term analysis supply and demand parameters were based on the Nordic national statistics, whereas the long-term analysis focused on modelling the effects of the EU 20-20-20 targets, and further the Nordic national climate and energy strategies targets for the energy system development, on greenhouse gas emissions in the long term. The analysis of Nordic energy system revealed that potential changes in the energy system have significant effect on the production phase climate impacts of small scale distributed energy generation technologies, and therefore, the short-and potential long-term emission factors may differ significantly. The effect of the change in magnitude and direction were found to be depended on the technology used and the sources of primary energy / fuel. By creating alternative policy, technology, and demand scenarios for the development of the energy system, this thesis also demonstrates that certain technologies are associated with uncertainty when CLCA methodology is used to determine the potential long-term emission factors, i.e. when analysing the impact far into the future, the uncertainty may grow larger than the actual effect,
Consequences of demand-side interventions on the operation efficiency of future energy systems
(2019) Olkkonen, Ville
School of Engineering | Doctoral dissertation (article-based)
National energy systems are in a state of transition. Electricity and heat generation from renewableenergy sources has increased substantially during the past few years in the European Union (EU).The EU member states project ambitious national targets for higher integration of variablerenewable energy (VRE) within electricity markets in particular. In this dissertation, the consequences of demand-side interventions on the energy system operation are examined. Demand-side interventions are studied in energy systems, where future transition is guided by the climate change mitigation policies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing the shareof renewable energy sources. First, the impact of stakeholder preferences in the evaluation ofdifferent heating choices for new single-family house in Finland are examined. The decisionproblem was analysed using multicriteria analysis considering different technical, economic,environmental and usability criteria. Since energy systems are being further interconnected in theEU through international power markets, the spatial and temporal variations regarding theenvironmental effects of electricity generation are examined in a national and multinational levelanalysis. The temporal variations in marginal electricity generation implicate that the short-termmarginal cost of production can vary significantly according to the time of the day. This means thatthe true cost of consuming electricity varies also depending of the time of use. In this regard, it isexamined how demand response, in this case temporally available shiftable demand affects theenergy system operation in Finland in future scenarios with increased shares of nuclear power andvariable renewable energy. The results indicate that in power markets that are highlyinterconnected, the effects of different demand-side interventions are not necessarily restricted tothe country (or bidding area) where demand-side intervention is committed. This is because theemissions embodied in electricity or system efficiency gains can leak to the neighbouring countriesas a consequence of electricity exchange. In this case, viewing the effects of demand-sideinterventions from a national perspective may be suboptimal. This study thus suggests that the marginal electricity generation in a multi-region system should be considered. Using the long-term perspective is also recommended when estimating the marginal consequences of a demand-side intervention that will influence the energy system in the long-term. Due to the spatial and temporal variations in marginal electricity generation, taking into account the time-varying nature of marginal emissions is recommended in relevant life cycle assessment studies. This variation was found to increase in the future due to the higher VRE integration. Demand response can be utilised to balance short-term variations in residual demand. However, its potential to facilitate higher integration of VRE can be limited by the technical and economic restrictions that constrain thedemand-side resource capacity utilisation. Demand response can therefore only partially replaceflexible conventional supply technologies in the provision of balancing power and energy.
Electricity Market Impacts of Low-carbon Energy Transition in the Nordic-Baltic Region
(2022-09) Farsaei, Anahita; Olkkonen, Ville; Kan, Xiaoming; Syri, Sanna
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
The Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are well connected to the Nordic countries Finland and Sweden on the electricity market, yet in a different position facing the transition to a low-carbon electricity system. While especially Sweden is a large electricity producer and net exporter, the Baltic countries suffer from a lack of capacity, which makes them highly dependent on trade. In addition, the present electricity mix of Estonia is very carbon intensive compared to the Nordic countries. There is a debate regarding nuclear power in Sweden. This paper explores four possible solutions for a Nordic-Baltic electricity system: with and without nuclear power in Sweden and with the current transmission network, as well as with a considerably expanded network. The impact on electricity mix, electricity prices, carbon dioxide intensity and import dependence in the Baltic countries from the EU transition to electricity systems with very low carbon dioxide emissions is investigated. The electricity and district heat market model Enerallt is used to quantify electricity prices, electricity trade and system costs. The results show that the development of the transmission network affects electricity prices and especially electricity trade in the Baltic countries. With transmission expansion, the demand weighted average prices in the Baltic countries increase from 62 (sic)/MWh to 65 (sic)/MWh and 70 (sic)/MWh with and without nuclear power in Sweden, respectively. If transmission is expanded, phasing out nuclear power in Sweden can increase the revenue from electricity export by over 100% for the Baltic countries. However, significant new investment in wind power is required.
Implications of carbon price paths on energy security in four Baltic region countries
(2020-07) Galinis, Arvydas; Martišauskas, Linas; Jääskeläinen, Jaakko; Olkkonen, Ville; Syri, Sanna; Avgerinopoulos, Georgios; Lekavičius, Vidas
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Energy security is one of the critical priorities of energy policy in the European Union and particularly in the Baltic region that is currently transforming itself from an isolated energy island to a highly interconnected area. In this paper, a comprehensive analysis of energy security in Estonia, Finland, Latvia, and Lithuania in the context of the energy transition is presented. The paper explores regional implications of two paths of carbon price (gradual and delayed carbon price increase). The analysis is performed by linking an energy system optimisation model with a probabilistic model of energy security. This modelling suite is used to assess the resilience of the planned energy system to possible disruptions. The results demonstrate that carbon price paths have a modest impact on energy security in Baltic countries if energy security measures are implemented in an optimal way. The research is based on the case study conducted in the framework of the European Union's Horizon 2020 project REEEM.
Kysyntäjousto kaukolämpöverkossa
(2016-04-22) Kallio, Tuomas
Insinööritieteiden korkeakoulu | Bachelor's thesis
Possibilities of hydropower to balance wind power on the Nordic electricity market
(2021-03-15) Soppela, Olli
Sähkötekniikan korkeakoulu | Master's thesis
Nordic governments are committed to the international greenhouse gas (GHG) emis-sion reduction agreements. Due to the advanced externality mitigation policies, the share of wind power in the Nordic market area has grown 10-fold during the 2010s and a further doubling of the total wind power generation capacity is planned to be imple-mented by 2030. Furthermore, the Nordic electricity system has an exceptionally high share of hydropower, 51% of the total gross generation in 2019. The hydropower pro-duction and storage in Norway and Sweden is expected to provide valuable regulating power in the Nordic electricity market as the share of variable renewable energy sources (RES, e.g. wind power) increases. This study focuses on analyzing some of the alterna-tive 2030 development scenarios for the Nordic electricity system and market. The changing scenario variables include forecasted electricity prices, generation mix and pumped hydro storage capacity. The energy market scenarios are modeled with Ener-Allt, a MATLAB-based energy system model, which is used to model on hourly basis the energy system operation, consequent bidding area prices and exchange flows by consid-ering the transmission line limitations between bidding areas. Therefore, this thesis provides bidding area resolution insights about the economic and technical impacts of the most ambitious RES expansion plans available for public in the Nordic electricity market. The goal of the thesis is to provide realistic estimates of the share of wind power that can be integrated to the Nordic energy system without the need for system level investments. The impacts of bottlenecks in transmission are analyzed and recommend-able priorities for further transmission investments are indicated.
Replacing hard coal with wind and nuclear power in Finland-impacts on electricity and district heating markets
(2020-07-15) Khosravi, Ali; Olkkonen, Ville; Farsaei, Anahita; Syri, Sanna
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
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.
Suomen pitkän aikavälin energia- ja ilmastostrategian vaikutus energiantuotantoon
(2016-09-02) Valli, Juho
Insinööritieteiden korkeakoulu | Bachelor's thesis
Tuulivoiman ympäristövaikutukset Suomessa
(2020-11-29) Raulo, Rita
Insinööritieteiden korkeakoulu | Bachelor's thesis
Unintended Consequences of National Climate Policy on International Electricity Markets—Case Finland’s Ban on Coal-Fired Generation
(2020-04) Farsaei, Anahita; Syri, Sanna; Olkkonen, Ville; Khosravi, Ali
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Finland has adopted a high profile in climate change mitigation. A national target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2035 has been declared. As a part of this, the use of coal for energy purposes has been banned from May 2029 onwards. The Nordic electricity market was a world fore-runner in creating a liberalized, multi-national electricity market in the 1990s. At present, the electricity systems of Finland, Sweden, and Norway are already very low-carbon. The Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania joined the Nordic market about a decade ago. Estonian electricity production is the most carbon-intensive of all the EU countries due to the extensive use of domestic oil shale. Especially Lithuania still suffers from capacity deficit created by the closure of the Soviet time nuclear reactor Ignalina in Lithuania. This paper presents the ambitions of the EU and national level energy and climate policies and models the multi-national impacts of Finland’s forthcoming closure of coal-fired generation. We also take into account Sweden’s planned decrease in nuclear generation. We find that these national-level policies have an impact on the Baltic countries as reduced import possibilities and increasing electricity prices, and the expected rise of the EU CO 2 allowance prices amplifies these. We further find that the abandonment of coal and nuclear power plants increases the net import and increases CO 2 emissions in neighboring regions.
Utilising demand response in the future Finnish energy system with increased shares of baseload nuclear power and variable renewable energy
(2018-12) Olkkonen, Ville; Ekström, Jussi; Hast, Aira; Syri, Sanna
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
The research presented in this paper aims to assess the technical effectiveness of demand response as a demand-side flexibility option to mitigate variability in the energy system in Finland in 2030. The results show that heating loads can provide a significant long-term technical potential for demand-side resource capacity. This demand-side resource capacity is not always available, as it varies according to the season and time of the day. The temporal availability of demand-side resource capacities varies between 80 and 5600 MW. Furthermore, the results show that the utilisation of demand-side resource capacity decreases significantly when the shifting time interval becomes more constrained. The utilisation of demand-side resource capacity results in balancing of residual demand in the day-ahead market, and thus more efficient utilisation of wind power generation in the Finnish power market. This smoothing effect reduces operating hours of thermal power production and the need for cross-border balancing by electricity imports during the peak hours. According to the sensitivity analysis, the ramping occurrences of district heating CHP units increase significantly with increased share of inflexible baseload nuclear power, while some of the efficiency gains can leak to the neighbouring countries.
Uusiutuvien energialähteiden ja ydinvoimakapasiteetin kasvun vaikutus sähkön huoltovarmuuteen Suomessa vuonna 2030
(2016-12-09) Mutikainen, Tero
Insinööritieteiden korkeakoulu | Bachelor's thesis
Uusiutuvien tuotantomuotojen vaikutus sähkön spot-hintaan
(2017-05-06) Sandberg, Verner
Insinööritieteiden korkeakoulu | Bachelor's thesis