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The Western Wind and Solar Integration Study Phase 2

TL;DR: The Western Wind and Solar Integration Study (WWSIS-2) as discussed by the authors evaluated these costs and emissions and simulated grid operations for a year to investigate the detailed impact of wind and solar on the fossil-fueled fleet.
Abstract: The electric grid is a highly complex, interconnected machine, and changing one part of the grid can have consequences elsewhere. Adding wind and solar affects the operation of the other power plants and adding high penetrations can induce cycling of fossil-fueled generators. Cycling leads to wear-and-tear costs and changes in emissions. Phase 2 of the Western Wind and Solar Integration Study (WWSIS-2) evaluated these costs and emissions and simulated grid operations for a year to investigate the detailed impact of wind and solar on the fossil-fueled fleet. This built on Phase 1, one of the largest wind and solar integration studies ever conducted, which examined operational impacts of high wind and solar penetrations in the West.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper presents the first global, integrated life-cycle assessment of the large-scale implementation of climate-mitigation technologies, addressing the feedback of the electricity system onto itself and using scenario-consistent assumptions of technical improvements in key energy and material production technologies.
Abstract: Decarbonization of electricity generation can support climate-change mitigation and presents an opportunity to address pollution resulting from fossil-fuel combustion. Generally, renewable technologies require higher initial investments in infrastructure than fossil-based power systems. To assess the tradeoffs of increased up-front emissions and reduced operational emissions, we present, to our knowledge, the first global, integrated life-cycle assessment (LCA) of long-term, wide-scale implementation of electricity generation from renewable sources (i.e., photovoltaic and solar thermal, wind, and hydropower) and of carbon dioxide capture and storage for fossil power generation. We compare emissions causing particulate matter exposure, freshwater ecotoxicity, freshwater eutrophication, and climate change for the climate-change-mitigation (BLUE Map) and business-as-usual (Baseline) scenarios of the International Energy Agency up to 2050. We use a vintage stock model to conduct an LCA of newly installed capacity year-by-year for each region, thus accounting for changes in the energy mix used to manufacture future power plants. Under the Baseline scenario, emissions of air and water pollutants more than double whereas the low-carbon technologies introduced in the BLUE Map scenario allow a doubling of electricity supply while stabilizing or even reducing pollution. Material requirements per unit generation for low-carbon technologies can be higher than for conventional fossil generation: 11-40 times more copper for photovoltaic systems and 6-14 times more iron for wind power plants. However, only two years of current global copper and one year of iron production will suffice to build a low-carbon energy system capable of supplying the world's electricity needs in 2050.

540 citations


Cites background or methods from "The Western Wind and Solar Integrat..."

  • ...levels similar to the BLUE Map scenario, grid balancing in the NREL Western Wind and Solar Integration Study results in a negligible degradation of CO2 emissions savings, further reductions of nitrogen oxide emissions, and a degradation of SO2 emission savings by 2–5% (113)....

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  • ...Study as a guide, the need for additional generation from dispatchable reserve power plants to balance variable renewable generation was only 1–3% of the total wind and solar generation in the scenario (113)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose a framework to analyze and quantify the integration costs of wind and solar generators in power systems, based on the marginal economic value of electricity, or market value.

383 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Wind Integration National Dataset (WIND) Toolkit as mentioned in this paper is the largest and most complete grid integration data set publicly available to date for wind energy integration studies in the United States.

361 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This work describes and implements a methodology to construct detailed temporal and spatial representations of demand response resources and to incorporate those resources into power system models and demonstrates how the combination of these three analyses can be used to assess economic value of the realizable potential ofDemand response for ancillary services.
Abstract: Many demand response resources are technically capable of providing ancillary services. In some cases, they can provide superior response to generators, as the curtailment of load is typically much faster than ramping thermal and hydropower plants. Analysis and quantification of demand response resources providing ancillary services is necessary to understand the resources' economic value and impact on the power system. Methodologies used to study grid integration of variable generation can be adapted to the study of demand response. In the present work, we describe and implement a methodology to construct detailed temporal and spatial representations of demand response resources and to incorporate those resources into power system models. In addition, the paper outlines ways to evaluate barriers to implementation. We demonstrate how the combination of these three analyses can be used to assess economic value of the realizable potential of demand response for ancillary services.

306 citations


Cites background from "The Western Wind and Solar Integrat..."

  • ...AS requirements vary hourly, based on statistical analysis of wind and solar resource data and short-term forecasts [35]....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors quantify the impacts of large-scale intermittent renewable energy sources (IRES) on the power system and its thermal generators, and discuss how to accurately model IRES impacts on a low-carbon power system.
Abstract: The electricity sector in OECD countries is on the brink of a large shift towards low-carbon electricity generation. Power systems after 2030 may consist largely of two low-carbon generator types: Intermittent Renewable Energy Sources (IRES) such as wind and solar PV and thermal generators such as power plants with carbon capture. Combining these two types could lead to conflicts, because IRES require more flexibility from the power system, whereas thermal generators may be relatively inflexible. In this study, we quantify the impacts of large-scale IRES on the power system and its thermal generators, and we discuss how to accurately model IRES impacts on a low-carbon power system. Wind integration studies show that the impacts of wind power on present-day power systems are sizable at penetration rates of around 20% of annual power generation: the combined reserve size increases by 8.6% (6.3–10.8%) of installed wind capacity, and wind power provides 16% (5–27%) of its capacity as firm capacity. Thermal generators are affected by a reduction in their efficiency of 4% (0–9%), and displacement of (mainly natural gas-fired) generators with the highest marginal costs. Of these impacts, only the increase in reserves incurs direct costs of 1–6€/MWhwind. These results are also indicative of the impacts of solar PV and wave power. A comprehensive power system model will be required to model the impacts of IRES in a low-carbon power system, which accounts for: a time step of

275 citations

References
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ReportDOI
01 Jul 2012
TL;DR: In this article, a detailed review of the most up-to-date data available on power plant cycling costs is presented, with the primary objective of this report being to increase awareness of power plant cycle cost, the use of these costs in renewable integration studies and to stimulate debate between policymakers, system dispatchers, plant personnel and power utilities.
Abstract: This report provides a detailed review of the most up to date data available on power plant cycling costs. The primary objective of this report is to increase awareness of power plant cycling cost, the use of these costs in renewable integration studies and to stimulate debate between policymakers, system dispatchers, plant personnel and power utilities.

275 citations

ReportDOI
01 Dec 2011
TL;DR: The Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) as discussed by the authors is a deterministic optimization model of the deployment of electric power generation technologies and transmission infrastructure throughout the contiguous United States into the future.
Abstract: The Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) is a deterministic optimization model of the deployment of electric power generation technologies and transmission infrastructure throughout the contiguous United States into the future. The model, developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Strategic Energy Analysis Center, is designed to analyze the critical energy issues in the electric sector, especially with respect to potential energy policies, such as clean energy and renewable energy standards or carbon restrictions. ReEDS provides a detailed treatment of electricity-generating and electrical storage technologies and specifically addresses a variety of issues related to renewable energy technologies, including accessibility and cost of transmission, regional quality of renewable resources, seasonal and diurnal generation profiles, variability of wind and solar power, and the influence of variability on the reliability of the electrical grid. ReEDS addresses these issues through a highly discretized regional structure, explicit statistical treatment of the variability in wind and solar output over time, and consideration of ancillary services' requirements and costs.

258 citations


"The Western Wind and Solar Integrat..." refers methods in this paper

  • ...NREL’s Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) model was used to select which regions were optimal locations for siting the wind and solar based on resources, load, and transmission (Short et al. 2011)....

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  • ...1 Siting NREL’s Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) model (Short et al. 2011) was used to site the wind and solar plants for each scenario....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Western Wind and Solar Integration Study (WWSIS) as mentioned in this paper is one of the world's largest regional integration studies to date, covering over 4 million square kilometers with a spatial resolution of approximately two-kilometers over a period of three years with a temporal resolution of 10 minutes.
Abstract: The Western Wind and Solar Integration Study (WWSIS) is one of the world's largest regional integration studies to date. This paper discusses the creation of the wind dataset that will be the basis for assessing the operating impacts and mitigation options due to the variability and uncertainty of wind power on the utility grids. The dataset is based on output from a mesoscale numerical weather prediction (NWP) model, covering over 4 million square kilometers with a spatial resolution of approximately two-kilometers over a period of three years with a temporal resolution of 10 minutes. The mesoscale model dataset includes all the meteorological variables necessary to calculate wind energy production. Individual time series were produced for over 30 thousand locations representing more than 900 GW of potential wind power generation.

154 citations

01 Aug 2012
TL;DR: In this article, a new methodology that allows the determination of necessary reserves for high penetrations of photovoltaic (PV) power and compares it to the wind-based methodology is presented.
Abstract: Increasing penetrations of wind a solar energy are raising concerns among electric system operators because of the variability and uncertainty associated with power sources. Previous work focused on the quantification of reserves for systems with wind power. This paper presents a new methodology that allows the determination of necessary reserves for high penetrations of photovoltaic (PV) power and compares it to the wind-based methodology. The solar reserve methodology is applied to Phase 2 of the Western Wind and Solar Integration Study. A summary of the results is included.

53 citations


"The Western Wind and Solar Integrat..." refers background or methods in this paper

  • ...When treating reserves in this study, we determined the reserve requirements necessary to cover a significant level of uncertainty in wind and solar variability (Ibanez et al. 2013)....

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  • ...Similarly, higher penetrations of wind led to higher reserve requirements (Ibanez et al. 2013) than those with high penetrations of solar because reserve requirements for wind/solar are driven by short-term uncertainty....

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  • ...Therefore, we calculate flexibility reserve requirements based on the weather component of solar variability (Ibanez et al. 2013) as discussed in Section 5....

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Proceedings Article
01 Aug 2012
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the cost and emissions impacts of cycling and ramping of fossil-fueled generation to refine assessments of wind and solar impacts on the power system.
Abstract: High penetrations of wind and solar power will impact the operations of the remaining generators on the power system. Regional integration studies have shown that wind and solar may cause fossil-fueled generators to cycle on and off and ramp down to part load more frequently and potentially more rapidly. Increased cycling, deeper load following, and rapid ramping may result in wear-and-tear impacts on fossil-fueled generators that lead to increased capital and maintenance costs, increased equivalent forced outage rates, and degraded performance over time. Heat rates and emissions from fossil-fueled generators may be higher during cycling and ramping than during steady-state operation. Many wind and solar integration studies have not taken these increased cost and emissions impacts into account because data have not been available. This analysis considers the cost and emissions impacts of cycling and ramping of fossil-fueled generation to refine assessments of wind and solar impacts on the power system.

31 citations