The project
Fluxys Belgium and ULiège have worked on the INTEGRATION project over the period 2020-2024, supported by the Energy Transition Fund of the Belgian federal government.
INTEGRATION stands for “INTeraction Electricité, Gaz et autres Réseaux énergétiques : modélisAtion, opTi-misation, Investissements et régulatiON” (official name in French) or “Integrated energy systems around gas and electricity: modeling, optimization, investment and regulatory tools for the energy transition” (translation in English).
The project aims at developing a methodology to model and optimize energy systems by 2050, taking all energy networks and demand sectors into account. The methodology focuses primarily on the interaction between gas and electricity because of the increasingly important role of gas – methane, hydrogen – to ensure security of supply in Belgium. Conversion technologies like power-to-gas and gas-to-power enable energy system integration – a dynamic interaction between electricity and gas systems that enables the optimisation of the whole energy system across energy carriers through markets.
This methodology is used to calculate an optimal energy system with the minimal total cost – annualized investments, fixed and variable operations and maintenance costs (except appliances for end-use of energy) – under constraints, e.g. reduced or net-zero CO2 emissions and limited renewable potential. To achieve that goal, green or low-carbon energy is produced in Belgium or imported: green electricity from wind, sun and hydro; green methane from biomethane or carbon-neutral synthetic methane; green hydrogen from electrolysis of green electricity. Each technology can be deployed up to a maximum capacity, reflecting e.g. spatial constraints. In order to achieve net-zero CO2 emissions, renewable and low-carbon gas and electricity is complemented with carbon capture and storage.
This methodology has been applied on Belgium’s energy system in 2050, where electricity and molecules (methane, hydrogen) are expected to be the main energy carriers.
This methodology allows to calculate optimal investments in every technology of the energy system – production, transport, conversion, storage – in order to ensure security of supply, competitiveness and sustainability.
It has to be noted that any kind of model is a limited representation of the reality and helps in understanding the behaviour of complex systems. Results need therefore to be cautiously interpreted.
Several scientific publications have been published in the framework of the INTEGRATION project. See the Methodology section for further details. This demonstration website is part of the deliverables of the INTEGRATION project.
