Electrification of Transport and Residential Heating Sectors in Support of Renewable Penetration: Scenarios for the Italian Energy System

The integration of significant shares of renewable energies poses remarkable issues strictly related to the intermittent nature of these sources. Nonetheless, solutions in support of such penetration in the electricity market exist and become particularly effective if conceived under a Smart Energy System perspective, so as to exploit potential synergies among the different energy sectors. With this respect, shifting programmable consumption from fossil fuels to electricity represents a measure to exploit the otherwise-curtailed renewable generation. In this study, the impact of electrification of both private transport and space heating is assessed for the Italian energy system with the help of EnergyPLAN software, quantified in terms of critical environmental and techno-economic indicators, thus evaluating to what extent increasing the electricity penetration supports the development of renewables and identifying possible optimal scenarios. Heating demand is thus fulfilled through alternative options including individual and centralized solutions. Results show that replacing natural gas boilers with heat pumps, while assuming a simultaneous penetration of electric vehicles in the conventional fleet, leads to a reduction in CO2 emissions in the Italian energy system. This is not only due to the introduction of more efficient technologies that help absorb renewable surplus, but also to a conventional electricity generation mostly made up of high-efficiency natural gas plants.