Course syllabus
Course-PM
SEE030 Variation management in the electricity system VT20 (7,5hp)
Revised January 14th, 2020
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), Energy Technology, Chalmers
(tel: 031-772 1452, lisa.goransson@chalmers.se)
Course assistants: Alla Toktarova (AT), Energy Technology, Chalmers
Jonathan Ullmark (JU), Energy Technology, Chalmers
Rasmus Erlandsson (RE), Student, Chalmers
Frej Stjärnborg (FS), Student, Chalmers
Henrik Hodel (HH), Student, Chalmers
Guest Lecturers: Patrik Johansson (PJ), Condensed Matter Physics, Chalmers
Björn Wickman (BW), Chemical Physics, Chalmers
Ulf Hagman (UH), head of R&D, Göteborg Energi
Viktor Johansson (VJ), Energy Technology, Chalmers
Course literature
The literature consists of a combination of book chapters and articles. Please see the file for literature relevant to each course module.
Course design
The course is composed by lectures and 5 mini-projects. The mini-projects include applying knowledge gained in lectures 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. A mid-term exam is given 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 and followed up by oral examination.
Lectures -the lectures introduce students to new knowledge based on recent research in the field. The content focus on the technical properties and cost structure of the different variation management strategies and how these decide the impact the strategies will have on the electricity system. Lectures are given on Mondays (8-10) and Wednesdays (10-12) in room EE (EDIT-building).
Mini projects -the mini-projects are designed to practice applying knowledge gained from lectures in this course and previous courses to open problem formulations. There are no “cook-book” examples and results will vary depending on 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 mini-projects is found in Instructions to project sessions.pdf . Each mini-project is carried out in groups of 3. Results are presented and discussed in groups of 15 students. The presentation sessions are compulsory.
Project report -each student write an individual project report on one of the mini-projects. The project on which the report should be written can be found in groups and general info.pdf . The project report is evaluated and a pass is required to pass the course.
Mid-term exam -takes place the 19th of February at 10-11:45 in room EE. It address basic concepts taught in the course up until the exam. A pass on the mid-term exam is required to pass the course.
Take-home exam -is made available on canvas on the 12th of March and is due the 19th of March. Similar to the mini-projects, the take-home exam requires that 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 corresponds to around two full days of work and is required to achieve higher grades.
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 mid-term exam (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 followed up by oral examination. 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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