The value of seasonal energy storage technologies for the integration of wind and solar power

Guerra, Omar J.; Zhang, Jiazi; Eichman, Joshua; Denholm, Paul; Kurtz, Jennifer; Hodge, Bri-Mathias

doi:10.1039/d0ee00771d

Cited by 187 publications

(98 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…That residual need is not fully served by current battery technology, but it could in principle be met with any number of technologies-such as longer-duration storage, hydrogen or synthetic fuels, biofuels, fossil or biomass with CO2 capture and sequestration or use, nuclear, geothermal, and concentrating solar-thermal power with storage (Dowling et al 2020;Williams et al 2021;Jenkins, Luke, and Thernstrom 2018;Jacobson 2020;Larsen et al 2020;E3 2020;Sepulveda et al 2018;J. Guerra et al 2020;Quarton et al 2019;Sepulveda et al 2021).…”

Section: The Next Half: Review Of the Scientific Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Halfway to Zero: Progress towards a Carbon-Free Power Sector

Wiser¹,

Millstein²,

Rand³

et al. 2021

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Sharply reducing carbon emissions is imperative to prevent the worst effects of climate change. Yet even in the power sector-often viewed as the lynchpin to economy-wide decarbonization, and where lowcarbon solutions are increasingly plentiful and cost-effective-the pace and scale of the required transformation can be daunting. A review of historical trends, however, shows the progress the power sector has already made in reducing emissions. Fifteen years ago, many business-as-usual projections anticipated that annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power supply in the United States would reach 3,000 million metric tons (MMT) in 2020. In fact, direct power-sector CO2 emissions in 2020 were 1,450 MMT-roughly 50% below the earlier projections. By this metric, in only 15 years the country's power sector has gone halfway to zero emissions. Other metrics also evolved differently than projected: total consumer electricity costs (i.e., bills) were 18% lower; costs to human health and the climate were 92% and 52% lower, respectively; and the number of jobs in electricity generation was 29% higher. Economic, technical, and policy factors contributed to this success, including sectoral changes, energy efficiency, wind and solar, continued operations of the nuclear fleet, and coal-to-gas fuel switching. This historical record demonstrates the ability of technological and policy changes to set the power sector on a dramatically different emissions trajectory. Past success, however, does not trivialize the challenges that remain for further decarbonization in the power sector and beyond. Nor does it offer a specific roadmap for how best to achieve additional power-sector emissions reductions. Numerous challenges confront a zero-emissions pathway, and future strategies will likely differ from those of the past. Many recent studies have assessed how to make further progress in decarbonizing the power sector on the pathway to decarbonizing the economy as a whole, including a report from the National Halfway to Zero │ii Academies (2021a). We summarize the core results of those studies, but the primary goal of this report is to highlight the progress that has already been made in reducing power-sector emissions. As the country maps out a plan for further decarbonization, experience from the past 15 years offers two central lessons. First, policy and technology advancement are imperative to achieving significant emissions reductions. Second, our ability to predict the future is limited, and so it will be crucial to adapt as we gain policy experience and as technologies advance in unexpected ways. Key findings on emissions reductions to date• Lower Emissions: The U.S. power sector, in 2020, looks radically different from projections made 15 years earlier. Compared to a range of past business-as-usual projections from the government, private sector, and research communities, in just 15 years the country's power sector has marched halfway to zero emissions. For example, the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA's) 2005 Ann...

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Section: The Next Half: Review Of the Scientific Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Halfway to Zero: Progress towards a Carbon-Free Power Sector

Wiser¹,

Millstein²,

Rand³

et al. 2021

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“…Some of the studies in this area focus on: 1) comparing the cost-effectiveness of P2G2P with other types of long-duration energy storage options like pumped hydro and compressed air energy storage for variable renewable energy (VRE) integration, from a marginal deployment perspective (i.e. electricity price taker) [9][10][11] , 2) assessing least-cost investment and operation of H 2 storage and shortduration energy storage like lithium-ion batteries in the context of a VRE dominant power systems [11][12][13][14] , and 3) the operational scheduling of H 2 storage in power markets 15,16 . Although these studies provide useful insights to compare different energy storage technologies from the perspective of the power sector, they overlook the multiple potential uses of H 2 (or H 2 derived carriers) outside the power sector and the associated cost-savings resulting from sharing infrastructure costs across these uses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sector coupling via hydrogen to lower the cost of energy system decarbonization

Mallapragada

Bose

et al. 2021

Energy Environ. Sci.

113

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“…1,4 Due to the central role of water splitting in a sustainable energy economy, the cost efficiency of this process is crucial and even one percent could save billions of dollars. 6,7 More than half of the costs of electrolytic hydrogen production are caused by the required electricity, and, besides that, the capital cost of the electrolyser is another major part. 6,8 Additionally, H 2 O is needed for water splitting.…”

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confidence: 99%