Course syllabus
Course-PM
SEE030 Variation management in the electricity system VT24 (7,5hp)
Revised February 28th, 2024
Department of Space Earth and Environment
Course purpose
The aim of the course is to provide the student with knowledge of technologies and strategies to manage variations in the electricity system, with focus on variations in the time-span of hours to seasons. The course includes aspects of variation management on detailed technology and process level as well as a system level understanding of the role of different variation management strategies in electricity systems with large shares of wind and solar power.
Schedule
Contact details
Teacher/Examiner: Lisa Göransson (LG), Division of Energy Technology, Chalmers
(tel: 031-772 1452, lisa.goransson@chalmers.se)
Course assistants: Nhu Anh Phan (AP), Division of Energy Technology, Chalmers
Alla Toktarova (AT), Division of Energy Technology, Chalmers
Henrik Hodel (HH), Division of Energy Technology, Chalmers
Guest Lecturers: Patrik Johansson (PJ), Division of Condensed Matter Physics, Chalmers
Björn Wickman (BW), Division of Chemical Physics, Chalmers
Simon Öberg (SÖ), Division of Energy Technology, Chalmers
Course literature
The literature consists of a combination of a compendium, book chapters and articles. The course compendium is available on the course homepage and include basic concepts adressed in the course. For book chapters and research articles, files and links are included in respective module. Literature under each module should be regarded as core course material unless marked as extended reading.
Course design
The course places emphasis on active learning. Lectures include group work during which students answer questions on core content. The course also includes 6 mini-projects. In the mini-projects, the students apply knowledge gained in learning activities to large, open-end questions in small groups. Solutions are presented on mandatory presentation and workshop sessions. One mini-project per student is to be submitted as a written report. Two written exams are given in the course, one in the middle and one at the end, with focus on basic concepts and technical processes. For higher grades, a take-home exam, similar to the mini-projects, is given at the end of the course.
Lectures - the lectures make sure to equip you with the subject knowledge required to solve the projects in the course and always include active elements designed to facilitate learning. A typical lecture starts with an introduction to the topic and core concepts after which students answer questions on core content in groups and report on the board. The purpose of the group work is to enable students to anchor their knowledge of the content. The answers on the board are discussed in full class after which recent research on the topic is presented.
Projects - the projects are designed to practice applying knowledge gained from lectures and literature in this course and previous courses to open problem formulations. There are no “cook-book” examples and results will vary depending on choices and assumptions made. The purpose of this work is to reach a state of learning where knowledge can be deployed freely to the task at hand (accommodative learning in pedagogical literature). The process of reaching this level of learning is known to be frustrating but also rewarding since the knowledge acquired in this way is very accessible when needed to solve “real” problems at later stages in the career (master thesis, work etc.). Results of the work on the mini-projects is presented in small groups where we compare our findings and discuss different methods and assumptions. The discussion is intended to support the understanding of how methods and assumptions drive results and give feedback on problem solving strategies. More information on the projects is found in Instructions to project sessions.pdf . Each project is carried out in groups of 3. Results are presented and discussed in workshops of 8-12 students. The workshop sessions are mandatory.
Project report - each student write an individual project report on one of the projects. The project report is evaluated and a pass is required to pass the course. Grade 4 (or 5) on the report together with grade 4 (or 5) on one of the questions on the take-home exam gives grade 4 (or 5) as final grade.
Duggas - duggas, or mid-term exams, take place the 23rd of April and the 23rd of May 2024. They address basic concepts taught in the course up until the exam. A pass on both exams is required to pass the course. Pass is the highest grade given.
Take-home exam - is made available on canvas on the 24th of May and is due the 3rd of June. Similar to the projects, the take-home exam requires students to apply their knowledge to a problem, design an own solution method and make assumptions and reflect on their impact on the result. The take-home exam consists of 2 questions and corresponds to around two full days of work. The two highest grades out of the grades of the two take-home exam questions and the report gives the final grade. With a grade 4 (or 5) on the report it is possible to skip one exam question and still get grade 4 (or 5).
Oral exam - students in between two grades or with very similar solutions on the take home exam will be called to oral examination.
Examination form
The examination is based on the written exams (pass/fail), active participation in the mini-project workshops (pass/fail) and one written mini-project report (pass/fail). Higher grades are awarded based on a written take-home exam. Passed mid-term exam and mini-projects are valid for one year.
Learning objectives
- Describe how variability impact the electricity system composition
- Explain how variations in load has formed the present electricity system
- Reflect on how variations in wind and solar power could influence the composition of the future electricity system
- Describe how the design of wind and solar power installations impact the variations in the electricity system in terms of technology choices, geographical distribution of power production and possibilities for power transfer.
- Apply classifications to explain similarities and differences between variation management strategies.
- Put forward the underlying technical processes behind variation management strategies.
- Discuss how the underlying technical processes impact the properties of the variation management strategies.
- Reflect on which actors are involved in different variation management strategies
- Evaluate different investment alternatives
- Discuss the benefits of different strategies from different actor perspectives
- Discuss the effects of up-scaling of variation management strategies on the environment and on resource availability.
- Discuss how the choice of variation management strategy depends on the electricity system context.
- Describe how variation management strategies impact the electricity system, in terms of marginal cost of electricity, full load hours of different generation technologies and investments in new power production.
- Reflect on how variation management strategies interact with each other.
Course summary:
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