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This paper is trying to offer some ideaspact. with physical laws which are not easily control-
suitable to try to rebalance the three lable by the operators;
primary aspects of energy world in- • the speed at which intermittent renewable are
cluding the electricity sector: costs, penetrating into the grids could create also se-
plants reliability and environment im- curity problems within electrical networks ope-
Energy sector will face within near future important ration, if adequate actions are not taken; very
important to fill the gaps when intermittent re-
challenges due to: newables are not operating including the set
up of energy storages at competitive capital
• reduction of fuel consumption due to hybrid and O&M costs.
and electrical vehicles, improvement of home
insulation reducing heat and cold needs du-
ring winter and summer time and due to the At beginning of two thousand stakeholders
increase of plants efficiency; eamndisgsoiovnesrntmhreonutgshthCoCuSgh(Ct atorbroenduCcaeptCuOre2
• huge increase of renewables assets whose
generated power is becoming day by day
more competitive and that are creating pro- and Storage) including underground
blems concerning their integration with fossil disposal of CEOOR2 in geologic structures or
utilization in (Enhanced Oil Recovery).
and nuclear generation mix;
• large emphasis of the governments on redu-
cing substantial amounts of gas emissions
mincaltuedipnogliCcyO; 2thinethineccreoansteedxt of energy and cli-
concentration is primarily
atmospheric CtOhe2 The main modification of power generation world
attributed to
combustion of fossil fuels in energy produc- is that today the operating hours of large fossil and
tion, petrochemical sector, steel and tile indu- nuclear plants are reduced due to the impact of
stries. renewables.
The key problem is that the design criteria of these
For these reasons it is urgent to rearrange the fossil and nuclear large plants are not suitable to
structure of energy sector.
Up to now electricity sector and petrochemical the new needs requiring quick start up and lower
sector adopted separate policies according to the
changes of their business. minimum load.
Within last five years the framework of electrici-
ty sector was subject to important changes also At beginning of two thousand stakeholders and
because the operating hours of fossil and nuclear
plants moved down due to the impact of renew- governments thought tCoapretudrueceanCdOS2toermagises)ioinns-
ables creating financial losses to the utilities and through CCS (Carbon
finally an increase of kWh prices to compensate at
least partially these financial losses. How will be the cluding underground disposal o(Ef nChOan2 cinedgeOoilloRgeic-
energy transition to renewables? It is evident that structures or utilization in EOR
the structure of electricity sector will change within
next future, but it is not easy to define the costs to covery).
move to a new electricity sector organization.
Always concerning the future structure of electricity At that time CCS was seen as a suitable technol-
sector it is important to remember that:
• energy flows through the grids in accordance oUgnylikinelythtehegloimbaplapcot rotffolrieonoefwCaObl2ems iitnigtoatigoenn. eration
mix changed the structure of electricity sector and
reduced the opportunities to equip with CCS the
fossil plants operating today in cycling mode.
In addition, the past years have shown that signifi-
cant drawbacks are associated with CCS options
tchaal tstsotoraregeCcOo2ulidn a geological reservoirs. Geologi-
include the possibility of leakage,
Present electricity sector structure Expected future electricity sector
structure
Since the development of alternate current the electri-
city sector was above all verticalized. The three main Not fully clear what will be the final impact of renewables on
assets are: electricity sector structure.
• generation plants Future structure could vary country by country and it will be
• high voltage transmission dependent also from the success of smart grids and from
• distribution to the final users the capital and operation cost of advanced energy storage
systems.
Impiantistica Italiana - Luglio-Agosto 2016 25
