Analyzing the optimal development of electricity storage in electricity markets with high variable renewable energy shares.

Summary The rise of variable input renewable technologies poses many challenges to the operation of the electrical system. This system must guarantee the supply-demand balance at all times, as well as ensure high levels of service reliability. Therefore, variability increases the need for flexibility and system services. There are several options capable of providing these services, including: strengthening interconnections, smart demand management, strengthening the rapid response capabilities of generation units, and implementing electricity storage technologies. However, the current electricity markets are based on the remuneration of energy. Therefore, the full valuation of the services that storage can provide seems difficult, which restricts the business case for flexibility options.This thesis focuses on the following issues: (1) modeling and evaluating the interrelationships between variability, flexibility needs and decarbonization objectives, (2) analyzing the role, as well as the value, of different storage technologies through the French case for the 2020, 2030 and 2050 time horizons, and (3) discussing the regulatory aspects of flexibility, as well as proposing concrete energy policies that allow the success of the energy transition and decarbonization objectives of the French electricity mix.