Transforming the Grid Towards Fully Renewable Energy

The need for a deep decarbonization of the energy sector and the associated opportunities are now increasingly recognized, with fossil fuel projects simultaneously becoming more risky business propositions. With large-scale wind and solar generation now being the cheapest options in many parts of the world, a deeply renewable electricity sector is predestined to become the main driver of this transition. Yet, misconceptions abound. In part, this can be traced back to the complexity of the electricity sector and the processes involved in its transformation, located at the intersection between grid design and operation, markets and regulations.

This book is intended to provide some clarity in this matter, by taking the reader from the conceptual foundations of a deeply decarbonized electricity sector in part 1 to new strategies for the renewable energy transition in part 3. Insights into essential building blocks are provided in part 2 where the role of transmission, distributed generation, smart grids, demand response, storage, and forecasting are covered in some detail. The synthesis part 3 explores the connections between the mobility and electricity sectors, the design of renewable economies, and possible roadmaps for a world-wide transition to a deeply decarbonized economy.

While striving to be technically rigorous, this book is also meant as an entertaining and inspiring read for researchers and advanced students, experts with the electric power industry, and decision makers in politics, industry and finance.

Oliver Probst is a professor of physics and renewable energy at Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Mexico, where he has been training renewable energy professionals and entrepreneurs for over 20 years. As a wind energy consultant, he has contributed to the development of nearly 2,000 MW of operating wind farms in Mexico and the United States. His research focuses on grid integration of renewable energy, wind resource assessment and wind turbine technology. Oliver holds a Dr. rer. nat. in Physics from the University of Heidelberg, Germany.

Sergio Castellanos is an incoming assistant professor in the Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering department at The University of Texas at Austin. He previously held a professional researcher position at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was part of the California Institute for Energy and Environment (CIEE), Energy and Resources Group (ERG), and Berkeley's Social Science Data Lab (D-Lab). His current research focuses on energy systems planning, sustainable transportation, and cleantech manufacturing - all with a strong emphasis on equity. Sergio holds a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Mechanical Engineering.

Rodrigo Palacios is an energy systems modelling expert currently with Iniciativa Climática de México, where he works on the design of pathways for a decarbonized power sector in Mexico based on quantitative modelling and outreach to government and private industry. Rodrigo holds a PhD in Engineering with a focus on optimization from Universidad de Burgos, Spain, and MSc degrees in labour safety and renewable energy from Universidad Camilo José Cela and CEU San Pablo, Spain, respectively.