• Energy Research

Existing studies on the acceptability of energy-related infrastructure have centered around how to overcome the Not-In-My-Backyard phenomenon amongst local stakeholders, focusing primarily on drivers such as community participation and direct economic benefits to impacted areas. To date, none of these contributions have related the acceptability question to the value of power reliability to the same stakeholders. We fill this gap by combining an analysis of outage vulnerability with an examination of infrastructure acceptability using a unique data set from 15 EU countries with household-level information on both aspects of power provision. We find only limited evidence of a positive relationship between local residents’ sensitivity to outages and their acceptability of new energy infrastructure projects. This stresses the importance of creating awareness amongst stakeholders on how planned infrastructure expansions relate to energy security for their own household.

This paper assesses the potential effects on the energy system from a full roll-out of a smart phone app designed to connect household electricity consumers with their consumption and price data. The effects of the app in terms of allowing greater demand-side flexibility on the part of household consumers is estimated based on data from an 18-month field trial involving 1,557 Austrian households. These estimates are given as hourly price elasticities of electricity demand and hourly energy efficiency treatment effects from consumer engagement with the app. In a novel methodological coupling, the econometric estimates are input into the Balmorel energy system model, which is used to analyze future scenarios of full renewable energy deployment in the Austrian energy system. The results demonstrate that the impact of the flexible residential demand for electricity is small but significant to future system costs. The total discounted system cost increases by 20-24% in the renewable energy scenarios, compared to a business as usual scenario, due to heavy investments in renewable generation. However, the reduction in cost in renewable energy scenarios is 4-7% when the observed demand-side flexibilities are considered. The results are subject to several methodological caveats, but they give a clear signal that ICT-enabled demand side flexibility can be an important cost-saving element that should be integrated into the future energy system and considered in system-level models.

Abstract One of the key issues in adopting a sustainable and renewable energy system is gaining social acceptance for technological change. Many technological changes can adversely affect residents and lead to opposition. Extensive development of electricity infrastructure has been met with especially strong resistance from local stakeholders. An abundance of research has been conducted to study the process and driving factors of social acceptance in the context of these infrastructural developments. This paper develops a conceptual definition of social acceptance that is both explicit and allows for quantitative assessment. This definition will aid future literature by clearly defining the goal of social acceptance research from the outset. As examples of the problems faced in electricity system change, factors of discontent surrounding the social acceptance of wind farms, transmission lines, and pump hydro-storage facilities are identified and synthesized. Policy relevant conclusions from previous research are summarized for these three infrastructure types. It is concluded that while research has done well in understanding the causes of opposition, more work is needed to grasp the efficacy and implementation of acceptance improving strategies. Future research should be focused on devising procedures to facilitate quick and efficient negotiations between infrastructure developers and local groups.

Abstract Resistance of the local population to new energy infrastructure may hinder achieving the European Union's goal that 32% of energy consumption come from renewable sources. A vast literature is available on the social acceptance of specific renewable energy technologies, but existing research lacks assessments regarding comprehensive transformations to local energy systems. Moreover, the promising energy storage technology power-to-gas has not yet been addressed in acceptance studies. This paper fills these gaps by analysing data from a choice experiment survey with 2000 respondents across four nations (Germany, Austria, Italy, and Switzerland). Results from the analysis show that solar farms and power-to-gas infrastructure increase acceptance of local energy communities, while wind farms have an ambiguous effect, and gas power plants and power lines decrease acceptance. The derived monthly willingness to pay estimates for the acceptance-increasing technologies ranges from 8.5€ for power-to-gas to 29.5€ for photovoltaics. Additionally, we investigate whether stated support from political opinion leaders at the local, national, and EU levels can increase the acceptance of renewable energy systems. Results suggest that Italian choices are influenced by the opinions of EU and national governmental bodies (+3.5% and +2.7%), and that Swiss choices are sensitive to the opinions of local politicians (+2.3%).

Abstract With the advent of ICT in the energy system, new possibilities to inform and influence residential electricity consumption become available. We explore the potential of ICT-based interventions in households to decrease electricity usage, improve energy efficiency and thus contribute to reducing GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions from this sector. Based on a literature review on the subject, we suggest that ICT can affect some of the main behaviour-influencing factors, and discuss the causal avenues by which these effects can take hold. Our review finds that ICT-based effects on consumer behaviour can reduce household final electricity consumption by 0–5%. These and other findings from the literature are used to define parameter values, which reflect the efficacy of ICT at changing household energy usage patterns, and ultimately decreasing GHG emissions from the electricity sector. A quantitative analysis of the potential for ICT to contribute to reaching the 1.5 °C target in the context of the European Union (EU) energy sector is performed. It is found that ICT-based interventions in household energy use could contribute between 0.23% and 3.3% of the EU CO2e reduction target from the energy sector that would keep warming under 1.5 °C, corresponding to 4.5–64.7 mio. tCO2e abated per year.

AbstractThis work discusses different methodological approaches for the economic evaluation of electricity supply security, quantifies the expected economic costs of power outages in Austria, and provides an interpretation of the results regarding the future challenges of sustaining the currently high levels of electricity supply security. By applying a macroeconomic simulation tool, which assesses the damages of power outages which can be defined for the period between one to 48 hours taking into account the day of the week and time of day, the value of supply security can be estimated precisely with high spatial and sectoral resolution. This is demonstrated exemplarily for a power outage scenario which is similar in scope, timing and duration to a historic even in Italy in 2003 affecting over 50 million people. Decision-makers in politics and businesses can use the analysis tool APOSTEL to conduct precise evaluations of the value of supply security, for cost-benefit analyses of supply security enhancing investments, of regulatory descions which affect the level of supply securty and for many more applications with regards to energy policy. Precise knowledge of the social and economic value of a secure supply of electricity becomes even more crucial considering that the average value of lost load for a one-hour power cut in Austria on a weekday morning in the summer is calculated at 17.1 € per kWh of electricity not supplied.