The retirement cliff: Power plant lives and their policy implications

Rode, David C.; Fischbeck, Paul S.; Páez, Antonio R.

doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2017.03.058

Cited by 25 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…2 Additionally, new power plants may offer advanced 6 technologies that enable improved heat rates, lower operating costs, lower emissions, and/or increased flexibility in operations, putting pressure on the economic position of older and smaller plants that use less-advanced technology EIA 2016;DOE 2017). Related, the operating costs of many existing plants are rising over time, as those plants age and reach the end of their planned lifetimes and/or face increased regulatory pressures as a consequence of environmental regulations (e.g., coal and gas plants) or relicensing needs (e.g., nuclear and hydropower) (Rode, Fischbeck, and Páez 2017;Pratson, Haerer, and Patiño-Echeverri 2013;DOE 2017;EIA 2017b;Linn and McCormack 2017;Burtraw et al 2012). The capacity-weighted age of coal and natural gas steam plants that retired from 2010-2016 was around 50 years; the same is largely true for planned retirements (Mills, Wiser, and Seel 2017).…”

Section: Executive Summarymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…and Larson , 2016EIA 2016;Hibbard, Tierney, and Franklin 2017;DOE 2017;Linn and McCormack 2017;Haratyk 2017). There is uncertainty, however, on the relative contributions of various factors, and on the specific role of VRE growth(Rode, Fischbeck, and Páez 2017;Pratson, Haerer, and Patiño-Echeverri 2013;BNEF 2017;Houser, Bordoff, and Marsters 2017;Chang et al 2017;DOE 2017;Makovich and Richards 2017;Linn and McCormack 2017).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Impacts of Variable Renewable Energy on Bulk Power System Assets, Pricing, and Costs

Wiser

Mills

Seel

et al. 2017

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and Patrick Brown (MIT). Of course, any omissions or errors that remain are solely the responsibility of the authors. penetrations increase, but sometimes come at a cost to the consumer that is not always accounted for in generation portfolio decision-making. (see Chapters 2 and 5) All generation types are unique in some respect-bringing benefits and challenges to the power system-and wholesale markets, industry investments, and operational procedures have evolved over time to manage the characteristics of a changing generation fleet. With increased VRE penetrations, power system planners, operators, regulators, and policymakers will continue to be challenged to develop methods to smoothly and cost-effectively manage the reliable integration of these new and growing sources of electricity supply. Less-liquid bilateral markets exist outside of ISO/RTO regions. Note also that substantial amounts of generation even in ISO/RTO regions are locked-into longer-term physical or financial contracts, in which case available wholesale market prices signal opportunity costs but may not affect immediate revenue generation for those existing generators; wholesale pricing will, of course, still affect market entry decisions for new generation. 2 Where active wholesale markets do not exist, the same basic dynamics hold: the declining cost of natural gas, for example, puts economic pressure on inflexible units even in markets that do not feature an ISO/RTO.

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Section: Executive Summarymentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Impacts of Variable Renewable Energy on Bulk Power System Assets, Pricing, and Costs

Wiser

Mills

Seel

et al. 2017

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“…Lazard (2016) does not estimate hydroelectric life. Figure 5 compares the length of an average contract (represented by a 20-year PPA) plus RV, a range of estimated average operational lives based on several studies, and actual average operational lives based on recent retirements for coal and natural gas thermal plants from a study by Rode, Fischbeck, and Páez (2017). The third and sixth columns shows the 10 th , 30 th , and 50 th percentiles for the retirement ages for coal and natural gas plants, respectively.…”

Section: Differences Between Ppa Periods and Operational Lives Of Genmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating the Impact of Residual Value for Electricity Generation Plants on Capital Recovery, Levelized Cost of Energy, and Cost to Consumers

Jenkin

Feldman

Kwan

et al. 2019

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“…Estimates of lifespans for wind turbines and solar arrays vary depending on location, weather stresses, and engineering, but are generally no more than about one human generation. The lifespans of giant wind turbines in most locations are estimated to be 20-25 years [48].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban energy futures: a comparative analysis

Lang

2018

Eur J Futures Res

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No contemporary major city is sustainable, with current population and levels of consumption, beyond the fossil fuels which have facilitated what has appropriately been called "high-energy modernity." At present, there appears to be no realistic possibility in any major city of replacing most of the energy from fossil fuels with renewable energy. Even in cities which could get most of their electricity from renewables, there is still a heavy reliance on motorized transport of people, goods, and food into and around the city. There does not appear to be a way to power and reproduce these fleets of vehicles solely with renewable energy, and most cities are not sustainable at their current size and density without them. But cities and regions vary in sustainability depending on local renewable energy sources, hinterland food production, population, extent of urban sprawl, and access to water-borne transportation. This paper identifies the features of more sustainable versus less sustainable cities, with examples from Asia, the Americas, and Europe. Case studies of two cities-Hong Kong and Vancouver, B. C.-are used to illustrate the analysis.

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The retirement cliff: Power plant lives and their policy implications

Cited by 25 publications

References 12 publications

Impacts of Variable Renewable Energy on Bulk Power System Assets, Pricing, and Costs

Impacts of Variable Renewable Energy on Bulk Power System Assets, Pricing, and Costs

Estimating the Impact of Residual Value for Electricity Generation Plants on Capital Recovery, Levelized Cost of Energy, and Cost to Consumers

Urban energy futures: a comparative analysis

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