The carbon abatement potential of high penetration intermittent renewables
- 23 February 2012
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in Energy & Environmental Science
- Vol. 5 (5), 6592-6601
- https://doi.org/10.1039/c2ee03490e
Abstract
The carbon abatement potentials of wind turbines, photovoltaics, and concentrating solar power plants were investigated using dispatch simulations over California with 2005–06 meteorological and load data. A parameterization of the simulation results is presented that provides approximations of both low-penetration carbon abatement rates and maximum carbon abatement potentials based on the temporal characteristics of the resource and the load. The results suggest that shallow carbon emissions reductions (up to 20% of the base case) can be achieved most efficiently with geothermal power and demand reductions via energy efficiency or conservation. Deep emissions reductions (up to 89% for this closed system), however, may require the build-out of very large fleets of intermittent renewables and improved power system flexibility, communications, and controls. At very high penetrations, combining wind and solar power improved renewable portfolio performance over individual build-out scenarios by reducing curtailment, suggesting that further reductions may be met by importing uncorrelated out-of-state renewable power. The results also suggest that 90–100% carbon emission reductions will rely on the development of demand response and energy storage facilities with power capacities of at least 65% of peak demand and energy capacities large enough to accommodate seasonal energy storage.Keywords
This publication has 18 references indexed in Scilit:
- Life cycle energy and greenhouse emissions analysis of wind turbines and the effect of size on energy yieldRenewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2009
- Review of solutions to global warming, air pollution, and energy securityEnergy & Environmental Science, 2008
- Life cycle assessment of photovoltaic electricity generationEnergy, 2007
- A guide to life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from electric supply technologiesEnergy, 2007
- The costs of wind's intermittency in Germany: application of a stochastic electricity market modelEuropean Transactions on Electrical Power, 2006
- Wind Generation, Power System Operation, and Emissions ReductionIEEE Transactions on Power Systems, 2006
- The Costs of Wind's Variability: Is There a Threshold?The Electricity Journal, 2005
- Grid impacts of wind power: a summary of recent studies in the United StatesWind Energy, 2004
- Carbon emission and mitigation cost comparisons between fossil fuel, nuclear and renewable energy resources for electricity generationEnergy Policy, 2002
- Energy and CO2 life-cycle analyses of wind turbines—review and applicationsRenewable Energy, 2002