AFEM Assessing Future Electricity Markets

1. Support decision makers regarding: market design, renewables support, security of supply, and grid expansion
   
2. Assesses the evolution of the Swiss electricity market and the impact of new market components by evaluating:
   

• long-term capacity investments
• medium-term dispatch optimization
• short-term network security
• flexibility needs of added renewables
• spatial renewable resource potentials
  
  

1. AFEM couples dimensions of the energy-economic system to assess future options
2. Transistion towards renewables and distribution-based systems leads to issues:
   

• eroding electricity prices
  
• no investment incentives
  
• concerns about flexibility
  

• Integrated modelling is critical to assess energy transitions
  
• Without RES support schemes, only minimal RE will be built and the nuclear phase-out results in greater net imports
  
• Rooftop solar power is more cost effective, available, and predictable than wind power in Switzerland
  
• Only moderate increase in flexibility needed for 12 TWh of RE
• Capacity markets are not necessary to ensure adequacy

The external page journal and the external page conference papers summarizing the project results

Partners: ETHZ, Univ Basel, Swissgrid, EWZ, Alpiq
Duration: 01/2015 - 12/2018
Funding: SNSF NRP 70 - Energy Turnaround
Project Leader:  Dr. Christian Schaffner (ETHZ-ESC)
Project Team: Dr. Jared Garrison, Dr. Turhan Demiray

The external page project website (and the other two projects - external page 1 and external page 2 - that are linked to AFEM within the framework of NRP70)