| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the optimal power generation mix considering massive deployment of variable renewable energy and regional power interchange. Japan has initiated the feed‐in‐tariff (FIT) and expected the significant introduction of PV and wind power for energy self‐sufficiency and climate change. However, wind power resources in Japan are concentrated mainly in Hokkaido and the Tohoku region, which are remote from electricity‐consuming areas such as Tokyo, and facilitating the considerable deployment of wind power requires the establishment of inter‐regional power transmission lines. Against these backgrounds, we develop an optimal power generation mix model including regional electricity exchange as a large‐scale linear programming model with 10 million variables and 30 million constraints. The calculation results show that regional grid expansion encourages wind power installation in the Hokkaido and Tohoku regions for power supply to the Tokyo area, where PV power and stationary batteries are alternatively replaced. Grid expansion too promotes the shift of PV installation to the Kyushu and Shikoku regions, which have longer sunshine duration, and interchangeably mitigates PV deployment in other regions through the transport of PV power from those two regions. |
