Regulation strategies of cogeneration of heat and power (CHP) plants and electricity transit in Denmark

Denmark is in a situation with many scattered sources of electricity that are not controlled by the central load dispatch. At the same time, Denmark is being used as an electricity transit corridor between the hydro-based systems of Norway/Sweden and the thermal systems of Germany and continental Europe. Through energy systems analyses and load-flow analyses, it is determined that if geographically scattered load balancing utilising the regulation ability of hitherto locally controlled plants is introduced while also introducing new dispatchable loads in the form of electric vehicles and heat pumps, electricity transit is enabled to a higher degree than if central load balancing is maintained. This is the case of an intact transmission system as well as a system with inoperative transmission lines. With an intact system, the average load of the system is approximately halved when applying scattered load balancing. Utilising the regulating capacity of local plants thus improves the role of the Danish system in the Northern European system.