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/

http://globalsolaratlas.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

Meta Data

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)

General description

System configuration identification

ID		BEL_000
Name		Belgium national scale

Short description of context

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		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

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/

http://globalsolaratlas.info/

Geographics

Geographical characteristics

See ‘Short description of context’

System breakdown

The system breakdown (SBD) of the Belgium national scale system configuration is displayed below.

Level 1 includes all relevant sectors of supply and demand
For the sake of simplicity and readability, level 2 zooms in on those sectors of main relevance for SmILES: Electricity infrastructure, Heat infrastructure and Residential demand. The sector Other Supply and the demand sectors Industry, Commercial, Transport and Agriculture are not elaborated on, even though specific features of those sectors (for example Greenhouses in the Agriculture sector) may be relevant to analyse upscaling of local system configurations adopted in SmILES
On the supply side, the relations are mainly of inheritance. For instance, centralized power generation refers to a variety of technology types, like natural gas, nuclear, off shore wind and so on. On the demand side, the relations are mainly of composition. For example, residential demand is composed of a number of sub-demands like space heating, space cooling, cooking etc.
Finally we note, that the dominance of the various SC elements in the current energy system differs. For example, with the exception of CHP, the Heat Infrastructure constitutes only a minor part of the current energy system. Yet, it is included because of its relevance for upscaling multi-energy solutions analysed in SmILES.

Graphical representations of SC

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.

Elements description

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) Power Capacity Availability Factor
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.

Elements connections

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
Comment	From: PV panels Batteries Grid (powered by the variety of other power generation technologies represented in the SBD) To: ELC-based technologies → RH / RW HP Other end-use services	From: PV panels Batteries To: HP Other end-use services	From: HP Boiler Buffer To: LTH technologies → RH / RW	From: NG To: NG-based technologies → RH / RW Boiler	From: Heat Pump To: LTH technologies (via Buffer)

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Belgium National Scale (VITO/EnergyVille)

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