COMETS – Co-Management of Energy and Transport Systems
The transport sector is the biggest challenge in the establishment of a Denmark that is independent of fossil fuels. As fossil fuels are phased out, the transport sector must increasingly be integrated into the rest of the energy system.
COMETS is an abbreviation of – Co-Management of Energy and Transport Systems and is about creating an integrated management of both energy and transport systems. Electric vehicles are rechargeable and can support the electricity grid in the production of electricity, which is based on biofuels, where the heat is used, while waste heat from the production can be used for district heating. Finally, hydrogen may be a new storage method. The transport sector will also have to compete with other sectors for biomass and other limited resources.
In Denmark, we currently have a unique opportunity to combine two major investment models in transport and energy: the Danish Energy Agency’s new model (TIMES-DK) and the national transport model (LTM) which has been developed by DTU Transport. This possibility is reinforced in COMETS, as the project creates a new analysis tool for integrating the transport and energy sectors. COMETS is an unsurpassed tool that can analyze how the transport sector has a much more detailed and varied impact on the overall energy system, and includes assessments of the impact on investment in infrastructure and in a restructuring. Public consultations and interactive involvement of stakeholders will ensure that the developed model tool and scenarios are relevant and have an impact on the development of the future transport and energy system.
The Project COMETS
COMETS is to develop a decision tool for identifying and optimizing policies and investments within an integrated energy system framework incorporating the transportation sector, supporting Denmark’s 2050 goal of becoming independent of fossil fuels.
With the transport sector being powered by an increasing share of renewable fuels, it will become increasingly integrated into the energy system: biofuels, hydrogen, electricity, and other alternative fuels have production chains with strong linkages to the broader energy system.
Some of the fuels can function as energy storage adding flexibility in the production of electricity and heat, and excess heat from the production of the fuels can be used for district heating or industrial processes Current energy system models cannot fully handle interactions between the energy and the transport systems, limiting their ability to model changes that affect both systems, e.g., modal shifts in transportation, transportation time optimization, and the influence of transport infrastructure investments on the energy system.
This project will develop soft-links between a newly developed behavior-based transport model and an integrated energy system model for Denmark. The combined modeling system will then be used to analyze different policy scenarios for energy and transportation with a participatory approach involving relevant stakeholders.
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