Impact of Grid Tariffs Design on the Zero Emission Neighborhoods Energy System Investments

TL;DR

This study examines how different grid tariff designs influence investment decisions and energy exchange behaviors in Zero Emission Neighborhoods, revealing that time-of-use tariffs are economically beneficial and capacity-based tariffs help maintain DSO revenue under export limits.

Contribution

It introduces an optimization model comparing various grid tariffs and analyzes their impact on ZEN investments and energy exchanges under different export constraints.

Findings

ToU tariffs are economically advantageous without export limits.

Capacity-based tariffs help maintain DSO revenue with export limits.

Dynamic tariffs can create problematic peak import periods.

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between grid tariffs and investment in Zero Emission Neighborhoods (ZEN) energy system, and how the grid exchanges are affected. Different grid tariffs (energy based, time of use (ToU), subscribed capacity and dynamic) are implemented in an optimization model that minimizes the cost of investing and operating a ZEN during its lifetime. The analysis is conducted in two cases: non-constrained exports and exports limited to 100kWh/h. The results suggest that in the case with no limit on export, the grid tariff has little influence, but ToU is economically advantageous for both the ZEN and the DSO. When exports are limited, the subscribed capacity scheme allows to maintain DSO revenue, while the others cut them by half. This tariff also offers the lowest maximum peak and a good duration curve. The dynamic tariff creates new potentially problematic peak imports despite its benefits in other peak hours.