What are the real implications for CO₂ as generation from renewables increases?

2024/08/09 by Dhruv Suri, Suri, Dhruv, Jacques A. de Chalendar +3
Environmental Science · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Engineering · #Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics #Climate Change Policy and Economics #Integrated Energy Systems Optimization

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2408.05209

Abstract

Wind and solar electricity generation account for 14% of total electricity generation in the United States and are expected to continue to grow in the next decades. In low carbon systems, generation from renewable energy sources displaces conventional fossil fuel power plants resulting in lower system-level emissions and emissions intensity. However, we find that intermittent generation from renewables changes the way conventional thermal power plants operate, and that the displacement of generation is not 1 to 1 as expected. Our work provides a method that allows policy and decision makers to continue to track the effect of additional renewable capacity and the resulting thermal power plant operational responses.

Related

• Grid-level impacts of renewable energy on thermal generation: efficiency, emissions and flexibility
• A short review and discussion about the limiting factors, which can hold back wind and photovoltaic power plants from its presently exponential growth
• Effect of Wind Intermittency on the Electric Grid: Mitigating the Risk of Energy Deficits
• A Techno-Economic Analysis of the Interconnectedness between Energy Resources, Climate Change, and Sustainable Development
• One hundred percent renewable energy generation in 2030 with the lowest\n cost commercially available power plants