SWITCH-China: A Systems Approach to Decarbonizing China’s Power System

Abstract

ABSTRACT:We present an integrated model, SWITCHChina, of the Chinese power sector with which to analyze the economic and technological implications of a medium to longterm decarbonization scenario while accounting for very-shortterm renewable variability. On the basis of the model and assumptions used, we find that the announced 2030 carbon peak can be achieved with a carbon price of ∼$40/tCO 2 . Current trends in renewable energy price reductions alone are insufficient to replace coal; however, an 80% carbon emission reduction by 2050 is achievable in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Target Scenario with an optimal electricity mix in 2050 including nuclear (14%), wind (23%), solar (27%), hydro (6%), gas (1%), coal (3%), and carbon capture and sequestration coal energy (26%). The co-benefits of carbon-price strategy would offset 22% to 42% of the increased electricity costs if the true cost of coal and the social cost of carbon are incorporated. In such a scenario, aggressive attention to research and both technological and financial innovation mechanisms are crucial to enabling the transition at a reasonable cost, along with strong carbon policies.

The role of hydro power, storage and transmission in the decarbonization of the Chinese power system

“…This cap is varied under different simulations to satisfy emission reductions goals, compared to today's level of approximately 6 billion ton of CO 2 annually from the power sector [9]. And for simplicity, we do not consider the CO 2 emissions in the manufacturing and construction process of the generators, storage and transmission, only the emissions from OCGT and coal combustion are taken into account here.…”

“…The power sector pathway to 100% CO 2 emission reduction, compared to today's value 6.0 billion metric ton per year [9], with the three grid topologies are shown in Figure 3. In this study, we focus on a greenfield investment planning, meaning we ignore existing plants and infrastructure.…”

“…Ref. [9] was the first, which studied the Chinese power sector decarbonization by including renewables, storage, hydro, and transmission in a detailed dispatch model. It gave an overview of an 80% carbon reduction scenario in 2050 supported by extensive data and operation considerations.…”

Intercomparison between Switch 2.0 and GE MAPS Models for Simulation of High-Renewable Power Systems in Hawaii

“…Switch is an open-source capacity expansion model, designed to optimize the construction of power systems with large shares of renewable power, storage and demand response. It was released as open-source software in 2008 [11,29], and has subsequently been used for a number of long-term studies of renewable energy adoption [30][31][32][33][34][35][36]. Here we test Switch version 2.0, which was released in 2018 [1,37].…”

Air quality and climate benefits of long-distance electricity transmission in China

“…Most previous studies on electricity transmission either focus entirely on the carbon emissions [10,11] or simply tabulate the reduction of local air pollutant emissions without evaluating the impact of those emissions on air quality and human health [12]. Here we not only account for the carbon emissions, but also conduct a sophisticated evaluation of the air quality impacts on health.…”