Performance Indicators of Electricity Generation at Country Level

The Case of Italy

Journal Article (2018)
Author(s)

Michel Noussan (Politecnico di Torino)

Roberta Roberto (ENEA)

Benedetto Nastasi (TU Delft - Building Physics)

Research Group
Building Physics
Copyright
© 2018 M. Noussan, R. Roberto, B. Nastasi
DOI related publication
https://doi.org/10.3390/en11030650
More Info
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Publication Year
2018
Language
English
Copyright
© 2018 M. Noussan, R. Roberto, B. Nastasi
Research Group
Building Physics
Issue number
3
Volume number
11
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Abstract

Power Grids face significant variability in their operation, especially where there are high proportions of non-programmable renewable energy sources constituting the electricity mix. An accurate and up-to-date knowledge of operational data is essential to guaranteeing the optimal management of the network, and this aspect will be even more crucial for the full deployment of Smart Grids. This work presents a data analysis of the electricity production at the country level, by considering some performance indicators based on primary energy consumption, the share of renewable energy sources, and CO2 emissions. The results show a significant variability of the indicators, highlighting the need of an accurate knowledge of operational parameters as a support for future Smart Grid management algorithms based on multi-objective optimization of power generation. The renewable share of electricity production has a positive impact, both on the primary energy factor and on the CO2 emission factor. However, a strong increase of the renewable share requires that the supply/demand mismatching issues be dealt with through appropriate measures.