Belgium National Scale (VITO/EnergyVille)
Belgium National Scale (VITO/EnergyVille) - title
Belgium National Scale (VITO/EnergyVille) System Configuration
Belgium National Scale (VITO/EnergyVille) - overview
System Configuration Overview
Author: Pieter Valkering, Larissa P. N. de Oliveira, Frank Meinke-Hubeny
Key figures:
- Population (2015): 11,3 million
- Population density (2015): 363 people per km2
- Main energy demands: industry, buildings (residential + tertiary), and transport (see below)
- Main energy vectors: petroleum, natural gas, electricity (see below)
- Share of renewables (2016): 6,4% of total end-use, 12,3% of electricity use
- Main renewable energy sources: biomass, PV and wind, with a minor share of hydroelectricity
- Heating networks only exist at a small scale, but are in development
Key words:
- National scale
- Fossil fuel and nuclear based
- Minor shares of renewables
Climate conditions:
Belgium features an oceanic climate (Cfb in the Köppen-Geiger climate classification).
Specifics for solar radiation and wind can be found here:
https://globalwindatlas.info/
Geographical characteristics:
See ‘Short description of context’ in details
Belgium National Scale (VITO/EnergyVille) - description
Short Description
Belgium is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of some 31.000 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. It includes three main regions: the Flemish Region (6.5 million people), the Walloon Region (3.6 million people), and the Brussels-Capital Region (1.2 million people).
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Belgium National Scale (VITO/EnergyVille) - details
System Configurations Details
Date | 29-05-18 | ||
Version | 1.0. | ||
Description | First version of SC in new description form | ||
Author | Pieter Valkering, Larissa P. N. de Oliveira, Frank Meinke-Hubeny (VITO / EnergyVille) |
ID | BEL_000 | ||
Name | Belgium national scale |
Context description | Belgium is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of some 31.000 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. It includes three main regions: the Flemish Region (6.5 million people), the Walloon Region (3.6 million people), and the Brussels-Capital Region (1.2 million people). | ||
Key figures |
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Key words |
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Climate conditions | Belgium features an oceanic climate (Cfb in the Köppen-Geiger climate classification). |
Geographical characteristics | See ‘Short description of context’ |
The system breakdown (SBD) of the Belgium national scale system configuration is displayed below.
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Representation of interfaces between elements of SBD
Figure 3 shows the main interfaces in terms of energy flows based on the example SC developed under T4.4, covering the buffering of heat pump generated heat. The grey lines in the figure display the current situation without the buffering; the black lines represent the system when the example SC is upscaled.
The diagram broadly covers five main interfaces as further specified in Section 5.
- Electricity supply, linking the various electricity supply options to the end-use. End use services are either directly electricity based (e.g. residential lighting) or other demands (such as residential heating or hot water demand) that can either be supplied by electricity-based technologies or by other energy sources, such as gas based heating.
- Electricity supply at low voltage (blue lines), linking PV generated electricity directly to the battery and other end-use services.
- Thermal supply, linking the various heat supply options via the heat buffer to the heat demands based on low-temperature heat
- Gas supply, linking natural gas supply to the heat demands based on low-temperature and high temperature heat
- Power to Heat, the interface between the electricity and supply via the heat pump
Note, finally, that task 4.4 is currently work in progress as a result of which the diagram displayed here may still evolve. The dotted lines, for example, are interfaces that may or may not be implemented under T4.4.
Hydraulic diagram of thermal network
Not applicable. Heating networks will not be explicitly be represented in the upscaling analysis and are hence not represented in the SC. Currently, heating networks only exist at a small scale in Belgium.
Electric diagram of electrical network
Electricity networks will not be explicitly represented in the upscaling analysis and are hence not represented in the SC. Within the TIMES framework, Belgium transmission grid is modelled in a simplified approach under which electricity generated is fed into low, medium and/or high voltage grids all the way to the end-use sectoral demands. These flows account for efficiency losses and operation costs, but are considered fully available to meet Belgium’s electricity demand. Moreover, there are no depiction of circular flows nor regional injection points, which disables the identification of congestion. Within the TIMES Belgium model a detailed depiction of the electricity import capacity, current and planned, is included which allows the assessment of energy dependency issues. For reference, a schematic description of the Belgian transmission network and its main international connections is given in Figure 4.
ID in SBD | 1.2.1 | ||
Level in SBD | 3 | ||
Class Name | Solar PV | ||
Description | Photovoltaic solar panels | ||
Parent class | Decentralized Power | ||
Contained in | None | ||
Functionality Purpose | Generate electricity from solar PV panels in buildings | ||
Interfaces | El_sup_LV: electricity to the (low voltage) grid, to final building demand or to batteries | ||
Physical charact. | Building type (residential or commercial) | ||
Number of elements in SC | 3 in SC reflecting existing stock in the base year, new units for the residential sector and new units for the commercial sector. | ||
ID in simulation | tbd |
Further details can be seen in deliverable D2-3, Appendix C.
Name | Electricity supply | Electricity supply – Low Voltage | Thermal supply | Gas supply | Power to Heat | ||
ID | El_sup | El_sup_LV | Th_sup | Ga_sup | PtH | ||
Type of exchange | Electrical energy | Electrical energy | Thermal energy | Gas | Power to Heat | ||
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