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This paper proposes a Unified Voltage and Pitch angle Control (UVPC) strategy for fixed speed wind farm. The focus put on guaranteeing the LVRT grid code requirement when the wind farm subjected to severe faults. The UVPC consist of static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) voltage control loops with adequate pitch angle control loops which are coordinated to enhance the low-voltage ride-through capability of the wind generators thereby, complying the low voltage ride through (LVRT) grid code requirement as desired by the Germany grid code. Different scenarios such as system without STATCOM and pitch-angle controller, with STATCOM only, and system with STATCOM and pitch-angle control (i.e. UVPC) are simulated. The simulation results show that the adoption of STATCOM and pitch angle controller fulfilling the LVRT grid code requirement to ensure the continuous operation of wind turbines. Furthermore, a concept of critical clearing time (CCT) is discussed and its utility has been emphasized. Calculations, simulations and measurements provide how the increased STATCOM rating can offer an enhanced stability margin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many countries plan to decarbonise their energy systems by increasing energy efficiency and expanding the use of renewable energy sources (RES). Such actions require significant investments in new energy infrastructures. While people are generally accepting of these infrastructures, opposition sometimes arises when these developments are sited at close proximity to people's residences. Therefore, it is important to understand what actually drives people's preferences for spatial proximity to different energy infrastructure technologies. This study examines the factors influencing people's proximity preferences to a range of different energy technologies using a cross-country econometric analysis of the stated preference data from an unprecedented survey conducted on nationally representative samples of the population in Ireland, the U.S. and Germany. The survey involved more than 4,500 participants in total. This paper presents the data and selected results from a generalised ordered logit model for each energy technology surveyed. These are; wind turbines, solar power technology, biomass power plant, coalfired power plant and natural gas power plant. The results show that, in general, German and Irish citizens are willing to accept energy infrastructures at smaller distances to their homes than their U.S. counterparts. Moreover, attitudinal factors are found to shape people's preferences more consistently than any of the socio-demographic characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an econometric analysis of curtailment costs of renewable energy sources (RES) in Germany. The study aims at explaining and quantifying the regional variability of RES curtailment, which is a measure to relieve grid overstress by temporarily disconnecting RES from the electricity grid. We apply a Heckit sample selection model, which corrects bias from non-randomly selected samples. The selection equation estimates the probability of occurrence of RES curtailment in a region. The outcome equation corrects for cross-sectional dependence and quantifies the effect of RES on curtailment costs. The results show that wind energy systems connected to the distribution grid increase RES curtailment costs by 0.7% per MW (or 0.2% per GWh) in subregions that have experienced RES curtailment over the period 2015-2017. The implication of this finding is that policymakers should set price signals for renewables that consider the regional grid overstress, in order to mitigate the cost burden on consumers due to excess generation from RES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The German reserve power market has been subject to important regulatory changes in recent years. A new market design has been introduced by synchro-nizing and interconnecting the four regional German control areas. We analyze whether the reforms have led to lower prices for minute reserve power (MRP). In contrast to existing papers, we use a unique panel dataset to account for un-observed heterogeneity between the four German regional markets. Moreover, we control for endogeneity by using weather data as instruments for electricity spot market prices. We find that the reforms were jointly successful in decreasing MRP prices leading to substantial cost savings for the transmission system operators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several researchers have focused on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis to analyze environmental degradation using carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and ecological footprint as dependent variables. However, analyzes based on these variables neglect the supply side of environmental sustainability. To address this shortcoming, this study aims to examine the determinants of the ecological footprint pressure index (EFPI) in the context of the EKC hypothesis. The EFPI provides a more detailed picture of environmental issues by considering both ecological footprint and biocapacity. Thus, the study aims to add scientific value to the existing literature by analyzing the EFPI under the EKC hypothesis for the first time. Building on this, our research investigates the effects of economic complexity (ECX), per capita income, and renewable energy consumption (REC) on the EFPI by adopting a novel econometric approach. The results of the Fourier autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) method show a cointegration relationship between income, ECX, renewable energy and EFPI in Germany, Switzerland and Sweden. The long-term elasticities indicate that ECX reduces the EFPI in Germany and Switzerland, while renewable energy mitigates environmental pressure in Switzerland and Sweden. Our findings also confirm the validity of the EKC hypothesis for Germany and Sweden. Based on these findings, the study suggests that ECX, renewable energy and economic growth can all be used as policy instruments to reduce environmental pressure in the three member states of the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We estimate direct and indirect energy rebound effects for a wide variety of goods and services in Germany. To this end, we employ a linearized approximation of the popular Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) approach suggested by Deaton and Muellbauer (1980). Excluding measures of energy efficiency when estimating rebound can lead to biased results. We compensate for this shortcoming of previous research by explicitly accounting for energy efficiency in our estimations. Using data for Germany from 1970 to 2017, we find moderate direct and significant indirect rebound effects for different energy carriers across four model specifications. The size of the rebound effect proves to be sensitive to the expenditure shares used for the calculations, which in some cases leads to negative overall rebound estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical evidence on households' awareness of electricity prices and potentially divergent demand responses to price changes conditional on price knowledge is scant. Using panel data originating from Germany's Residential Energy Consumption Survey (GRECS), we fill this void by employing an instrumental-variable (IV) approach to cope with the endogeneity of the consumers' tariff choice. By additionally exploiting information on the households' knowledge about power prices, we combine the IV approach with an Endogenous Switching Regression Model to estimate price elasticities for two groups of households, finding that only those households that are informed about prices are sensitive to price changes, whereas the electricity demand of uninformed households is entirely price-inelastic. Based on these results, to curb the electricity consumption of the household sector and its environmental impact, we suggest implementing low-cost information measures on a large scale, such as improving the transparency of tariffs, thereby increasing the saliency of prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the relationship between regional housing market fundamentals and energy consumption. We argue that dwellings, in particularly rental properties, are not only consumer goods, but also constitute financial market assets. Properties are spatially fixed and traded in regional contexts, where real estate market characteristics like vacancy, income levels, and expectations determine rent and prices, which in turn provide incentives to invest in housing quality. The level of housing quality (e.g. windows, building materials, or heating technology) in turn influences the level of energy consumption. While this view is established in the real estate and urban economics literature, it has only recently found its way into the energy debate. As a result, the relationship between regional housing market fundamentals and energy consumption has received little attention. This study provides a first attempt to address this paucity. Utilizing aggregate data on regional space-heating energy consumption from over 300,000 apartment buildings in 97 German planning regions, the study applies structural equation modeling to estimate the influence of housing market fundamentals on the level housing quality, and subsequently on regional energy consumption. Findings provide first evidence that regional differences in housing market conditions have a significant impact on housing quality and energy consumption. Specifically, the results suggest that carbon abatement programs in buildings should focus on regions with weak housing market fundamentals, as market incentives are unlikely to incentivize investors to invest in housing quality attributes. The authors conclude by highlighting important implications for energy research and avenues for further investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a panel of household travel diary data collected in Germany between 1997 and 2005, this study assesses the effectiveness of fuel efficiency improvements by estimating the rebound effect, which measures the extent to which higher efficiency causes additional travel. Following a theoretical discussion outlining three alternative definitions of the rebound effect, the econometric analysis generates corresponding estimates using panel methods to control for the effects of unobservables that could otherwise produce spurious results. Our results, which range between 57% and 67%, indicate a rebound that is substantially larger than obtained in other studies, calling into question the efficacy of policies targeted at reducing energy consumption via technological efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]