Prospective Integration of Renewable Energies with High Capacities Using Combined Heat and Power Plants (CHP) with Thermal Storages

The increasing use of fluctuating generation plants like wind turbines and solar power systems makes new demands on the existing power grid. Aiming at the expand of renewable energies in our electrical power supply system and their implementation as a basic grid component will lead to an increasing demand of operating reserve and balancing energy due to the stochastic feed in character. At the same time also a strong increase of efficient CHP systems in the current supply structure will be aspired. Regarding this context decentralized plants like combined heat and power (CHP) can be used in our present power supply system in such a way, that a future electricity supply with high fraction of fluctuating renewable energies as wind power and photovoltaics could be possible. In connection with enlarged thermal storages, their specific application can add a substantial contribution in combination with an aimed electricity supply of 80 % renewable energy. According to the heat demand also this form of generation indicates a stochastic feed in or consumption behavior. The integration of thermal energy storages can decouple the production of electricity and heat from time to time. Seeing that on one side the fraction of CHP systems can be developed clearly and on the other side this kind of plant configuration makes a contribution to a functioning future power supply. The paper will describe the integration of such cogeneration systems on basis of the German supply system. To combine heat and power operated solutions the operation schedule of the system and his participants is calculated by a linear optimization tool. Based on a high fraction of those combined systems, a functioning future power supply is possible basically also without intense use of battery storages.