Integrating renewable electricity systems with the biomass conversion sector: a focus on extreme meteorological events

The biomass conversion system offers opportunities to facilitate integrating intermittent renewables into the electricity systems, e.g. in the form of biorefineries producing electrofuels. We will apply a modelling approach to investigate the possible contribution of forest biomass conversion technologies to electricity systems with high shares of intermittent renewables. In particular we assess how biomass conversion technologies can be used to handle extreme meteorological events in those systems. For that purpose, we develop a new integrated model based on the existing models BeWhere (biomass systems) and COPA (renewable electricity systems) and apply it to future scenarios for the case of Sweden, as existing energy system models lack spatial and/or temporal detail to address the research problem. Spatial as well as temporal resolution plays an important role in determining integration options. In the model development we therefore balance computational feasibility against results quality. The researchers in the project have jointly been involved in the development of the BeWhere model and, at the same time, have complementary experience with respect to modelling biomass conversion and electricity systems with high shares of renewables. This project is performed as an international collaboration project, which will benefit from the respective strengths of the participants as well as support an intensification of the exchange between the research groups.