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In recent years, the transition of the power supply chain towards a sustainable system based on green electricity has become a main challenge for distribution grid operators and further stakeholders in the power system. To enable the evaluation of new concepts for the integration of such technologies, first the feed-in characteristics of photovoltaic, wind and biomass generators are studied in this thesis. The achieved insights are used for multi-disciplinary research, 1) technically, e.g. for the dimensioning of grid and storage assets in distribution grids to cope with the feed-in characteristics, 2) economically, e.g. by deriving break-even points for storage assets as a substitute to conventional grid reinforcements, 3) in regulatory terms; for this, it is investigated whether or not innovative investments are incentivized by the grid regulation method and 4) from a welfare point of view since several stakeholders may be interested in using the flexibility provided by such decentralized storage assets. All of the investigations include real-world case studies from German regions already facing the exciting and challenging developments of the energy transition.

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Stefan Nykamp, M.Sc. (Energy Economics) at the University of Muenster and the RWTH Aachen, Germany. Ph.D. at the University of Twente, The Netherlands. Manager of the Technology Centre Grid Storage, Westnetz (an RWE company), Dortmund, Germany.

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