title: The Digital and Sustainable Transformation of Electricity Systems : Understanding Information Systems Enabled Flexibility
Creators: name: Körner, Marc-Fabian
Publisher: name: University of Bayreuth
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Energy Informatics
subject: Green Information Systems
subject: Renewable Energy Systems
subject: Flexibility
subject: 000
subject: 330

description: To mitigate climate change, the world-wide decarbonization of electricity systems is crucial. Against this background, it is necessary to increase the share of renewable energy sources in electricity systems. The corresponding energy transition represents a fundamental transformation of electricity systems. However, an increase in renewable energy sources also poses challenges to electricity grid stability. For example, the feed-in of photovoltaic and wind power plants is intermittent due to inherent weather-dependency, and, because of physical constraints, the electricity grid has to balance supply and demand at all times. Moreover, increasing the (decentralized) feed-in of renewable energy sources might not only result in grid congestion, but could also affect electricity market structures. In this context, discussions on electricity market design attract attention that, in turn, shape electricity systems world-wide. Over the past years, research on Information Systems established the stream of Energy Informatics with the aim of providing applicable and digital solutions to the transformation of electricity systems. To cope with the ongoing transformation of electricity systems, research knows several options to increase electricity systems’ flexibility that are able to account for increasing intermittency on the supply side. In this regard, increasing the flexibility on the demand side through measures of demand response is of particular interest. Therefore, both research and practice consider the important role of Information Systems in enabling and exploiting the potential of flexibility in electricity systems. This thesis presents the most recent insights on the ongoing transformation of electricity systems relating to the integration of renewable energy sources and corresponding discussions on electricity market design, and, more specifically, on electricity pricing regimes. Subsequently, it elaborates on associated digital solutions with respect to Energy Informatics. Moreover, the thesis outlines the need for and describes different options to increase flexibility in electricity systems, and it analyzes – in more detail – the flexibility option of demand response that is applied in various sectors. Finally, the thesis considers recent research on the crucial role of Information Systems in enabling, implementing, and operating flexibility in electricity systems by bi-directional information flows, automated control, optimizations of electricity markets, and digital (market) platforms. Overarching, seven research papers are embedded in this thesis. The thesis contextualizes the research papers’ contributions by disclosing the most recent insights to researchers and practitioners. To summarize, the thesis reflects the transformation of electricity systems world-wide and contributes to an understanding of Information Systems enabled flexibility in electricity systems.