Eastern Renewable Generation Integration Study

Bloom, Aaron; Townsend, Aaron; Palchak, David; Novacheck, Joshua; King, J.; Barrows, Clayton; Ibáñez, Eduardo; O’Connell, Matthew; Jordan, G.; Roberts, Brett; Draxl, Caroline; Gruchalla, Kenny

doi:10.2172/1318192

Cited by 98 publications

(104 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Flexibility assessment has become an integral part of grid integration studies for renewables (GE Energy 2010;Lew et al 2013;EnerNex Corporation 2011;Bloom et al forthcoming;Venkataraman et al 2010;E3 2014;GE Energy 2014;Brinkman et al 2015). These studies use high-resolution models of grid operations (i.e., production cost models) to assess how the introduction of greater shares of variable renewable generation might affect production costs, emissions, and the mix of generated electricity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Capturing the Impact of Storage and Other Flexible Technologies on Electric System Planning

Hale

Stoll

Mai

2016

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Executive SummaryPower systems of the future are likely to require additional flexibility due to the operating characteristics of many clean energy technologies, particularly those relying on renewable energy sources. This subject has been well studied from an operational perspective, but it has been more difficult to incorporate into capacity expansion models (CEMs) that study investment decisions on the decadal scale. There are two primary reasons for this. First, the necessary input data, including cost and resource projections, for flexibility options like demand response and storage are not widely available and are highly uncertain. Second, it is computationally difficult to simultaneously represent both investment and operational decisions in detail, with the latter being necessary to adequately value system flexibility in realistic systems.The primary purpose of this report is to present new capabilities that were developed for a particular CEM, NREL's Resource Planning Model (RPM), to better reflect the impact of variable wind and solar generation on system operations and resource adequacy, and, complementarily, to model energy-constrained flexibility resources. The additional variable generation modeling capabilities enable a more-accurate representation of the need for additional flexibility in systems with high penetrations of variable generation and, as a result, better reflect the value of technologies that can provide flexibility. We demonstrate the use of the new capabilities by examining the role of two broad technological sources of flexibility in power systems-utility-scale storage and interruptible load-and we model how they might contribute to a range of grid services for operations and planning. A wide range of different energy storage technologies is modeled, including multiple types of battery technologies. We also model interruptible load, a type of demand response that can be used to reduce demand, usually during peak hours, within pre-determined capacity and duration limits.The new capabilities use load duration curves from hourly data spanning a full year, thus enabling RPM to capture the impact of variable generation and the potential value of storage and interruptible load during infrequent, but important periods and hours within the year. The techniques enable RPM to accurately calculate the need for grid services and simultaneously consider, in its investment decision, the potential for storage and interruptible load to provide value to the system in multiple distinct ways: firm capacity for resource adequacy, operating reserve provision, energy arbitrage, and reductions in renewable curtailment. The ability of storage and interruptible load to lower system costs by providing these services, as well as the capital and implementation costs and other characteristics of the flexible technologies, are factored into RPM's economic investment decisions. These new techniques adapted for RPM can also be implemented in other CEMs.Using these capabilities, we analyze deployment of storage and...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Capturing the Impact of Storage and Other Flexible Technologies on Electric System Planning

Hale

Stoll

Mai

2016

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“…Third, future research should consider climate change impacts on transmission, which we do not capture. Transmission will play a crucial role in integrating high wind and solar penetrations through connecting generators to loads and through enabling sufficient system flexibility to accommodate their generation (Bloom et al 2016). By limiting transmission capacities (Craig et al 2018), climate change could lead to greater curtailment of wind and solar or inhibit their growth absent additional transmission investment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given expected growth in wind and solar installed capacity and our midcentury timeframe, we use a high wind and solar generator fleet with wind and solar installed capacities of 35 and 31.5 GW (26% and 23% of total installed capacity), respectively, and energy penetrations of 25% and 15%, respectively. Absent climate change, studies in other parts of the US indicate that this level of renewable penetration can be integrated from a technical perspective, but doing so might require market design reform and investment in transmission and flexible assets (Hand et al 2012, Bloom et al 2016. As of July 2019, ERCOT has 22 and 1.8 GW of installed wind and solar, respectively (ERCOT 2019).…”

Section: Wind and Solar Generationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compounding climate change impacts during high stress periods for a high wind and solar power system in Texas

Craig

Jaramillo

Hodge

et al. 2020

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Power system planning aims at ensuring that sufficient supply-and demand-side assets exist to meet electricity demand at all times. For a Texas electric power system with high wind and solar penetrations, we quantify how climate change will affect supply and demand during three types of high stress periods for the power grid: high demand hours, high net demand hours, and high system ramp hours. We specifically quantify effects on demand, reductions in available thermal capacity (i.e. thermal deratings), wind and solar generation, and net demand. We estimate each using meteorological variables from five climate change projections (2041-2050) assuming Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 and from a reference period (1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005). All five projections indicate that climate change will increase demand by up to 2 GWh during high demand hours (4% of demand in the reference period) and increase net demand by up to 3 GWh during high net demand periods (6% of net demand in the reference period). All five projections also indicate thermal deratings will increase during high demand and net demand periods by up to 2 GWh and high net demand ramps will increase by up to 2 GW. Overall, our results indicate compounding effects of climate change in Texas will necessitate greater investment in peak and flexible capacity. RECEIVED

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“…The studies focus on a variety of questions related to integrating VRE into power system operations and markets. Several studies focused on the technical and physical barriers to operating the grid with high levels of VRE [19,21,22,24]. The WWSIS [24] identified several changes to integrate 30% wind and 5% solar including increased balancing area cooperation, implementation of sub-hourly scheduling, and expansion of transmission infrastructure as appropriate.…”

Section: Modeled Impacts Of Vre On the Bulk Power Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of variable renewable energy on wholesale markets and generating assets in the United States: A review of expectations and evidence

Mills

Levin

Wiser

et al. 2020

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

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We synthesize available literature, data, and analysis on the degree to which growth in variable renewable energy (VRE) has impacted or might in the future impact bulk power system assets, pricing, and costs in the United States. Most studies of future scenarios indicate that VRE reduces wholesale energy prices and capacity factors of thermal generators. Traditional baseload generators are more exposed to these changing market conditions than low-capital cost and more flexible intermediate and peak-load generators. From analysis of historical data we find that VRE is already influencing the bulk power market through changes in temporal and geographic patterns areas with higher levels of VRE. The most significant observed impacts have concentrated in areas with significant VRE and/or nuclear generation along with limited transmission, with negative pricing also often occurring during periods with lower system-wide load. So far, however, VRE, has had a relatively modest impact on historical average annual wholesale prices across entire market regions, at least in comparison to other drivers. The reduction of natural gas prices is the primary contributor to the decline in wholesale prices since 2008. Similarly, VRE impacts on thermal plant retirements have been limited and there is little relationship between the location of recent retirements and VRE penetration levels. Although impacts on wholesale prices have been modest so far, impacts of VRE on the electricity market will be more significant under higher VRE penetrations. KEYWORDSVariable renewable energy; electricity markets; electricity prices; generator profitability 3 ABBREVIATIONS AS Ancillary services CAISO California Independent System Operator CCGT Combined cycle gas turbine CREZ Competitive Renewable Energy Zones CT Combustion turbine DOE

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Eastern Renewable Generation Integration Study

Cited by 98 publications

References 16 publications

Capturing the Impact of Storage and Other Flexible Technologies on Electric System Planning

Capturing the Impact of Storage and Other Flexible Technologies on Electric System Planning

Compounding climate change impacts during high stress periods for a high wind and solar power system in Texas

Impacts of variable renewable energy on wholesale markets and generating assets in the United States: A review of expectations and evidence

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