The Potential Role of Flexibility During Peak Hours on Greenhouse Gas Emissions: A Life Cycle Assessment of Five Targeted National Electricity Grid Mixes

Abstract

On the path towards the decarbonization of the electricity supply, flexibility and demand response have become key factors to enhance the integration of distributed energy resources, shifting the consumption from peak hours to off-peak hours, optimizing the grid usage and maximizing the share of renewables. Despite the technical viability of flexible services, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions has not been proven. Traditionally, emissions are calculated on a yearly average timescale, not providing any information about peak hours’ environmental impact. Furthermore, peak-hours’ environmental impacts are not always greater than on the base load, depending on the resources used for those time periods. This paper formulates a general methodology to assess the potential environmental impact of peak-hourly generation profiles, through attributional life cycle assessment. This methodology was applied to five different countries under the INVADE H2020 Project. Evaluation results demonstrate that countries like Spain and Bulgaria could benefit from implementing demand response activities considering environmental aspects, enhancing potential greenhouse gas reductions by up to 21% in peak hours.

The use of primary energy factors and CO2 intensities for electricity in the European context - A systematic methodological review and critical evaluation of the contemporary literature

“…The study finds that the benefits of intelligently controlling HPs, PV and energy storage across an energy community can be largely dependent on the CI of the considered country. Along the same lines, [22] finds that country-specific CIs have an important influence on the benefits of dispatching flexible electricity demand during peak hours.…”

“…In many cases, CFs are used in the context of retrofit scenarios -in which the PE or CE of one or several buildings needs to be calculated before and after a number of measures are taken [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. In some of the other cases, CFs are used to assess the CE reduction potential of energy communities [9], to design control strategies for flexible electricity demand [22], and even to assess the benefits of electrifying offshore oil platforms [23]. Some studies use the 'official' CFs proposed by national regulations and building codes [7,11,24,25], while others use different externally-sourced CFs, or calculate CFs themselves [26][27][28].…”

A Novel Hybrid Home Energy Management System Considering Electricity Cost and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Minimization

“…Power systems consisting of diverse generation sources have time-dependent GHG emissions; therefore, the GWP performance changes over time along with the electricity mix [24]. One of the objectives is to calculate the hourly kg CO 2 equivalent (CO 2−eq ) in one kWh of the energy mix.…”

CO2 Intensities and Primary Energy Factors in the Future European Electricity System

“…In these cases, the primary energy use and CO 2 emissions are calculated for certain renovation measures or building designs. Some of the other applications for which conversion factors are used in the literature include an assessment of the CO 2 emissions reduction potential of energy communities [7], the design of control strategies for flexible electricity demand [18], and even an assessment of the benefits of electrifying offshore oil platforms [19].…”