Concentration

Transition to Renewable Energy Resources

Here is where my concentration lives! Any updates, changes, or research regarding my concentration will be organized here accordingly.

– This page will be updated as the concentration process proceeds –

– Concentration Summary –

As of October 28, 2018

The electrical grid in the United States as it operates today functions under many constraints. However, the most essential component is that energy consumption must equal energy production in every moment of the day to keep the grid balanced. If it is not, it will result in system failures which will hamper the grid’s reliability. This fact plays a crucial role with the increasing amount of intermittent renewable energy resources being integrated onto the electrical grid to combat carbon emissions. The energy industry, specifically electric, has been both willingly and reluctantly moving forward to contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions from existing energy infrastructure. This infrastructure has been identified as a key contributor of climate change with negative long term repercussions (Seto 2016). Schipper’s work to identify methods to estimate carbon released from the combustion of fossil fuels (Schipper 2001). This work makes it possible to understand where and how the energy industry emits carbon and possible solutions to reduce these emissions(Schipper 2001).  

To completely grasp how the electric industry is going to integrate intermittent renewable energy resources to serve load, it is crucial to “review future global demand for electricity and major technologies positioned to supply it with minimal greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions: renewables (wind, solar, water, geothermal, and biomass), nuclear fission, and fossil power with CO2 capture and sequestration” (Greenblatt 2017, 289). Economic incentives, policy requirements, technological innovation, and lower power costs are expediting the development and integration of renewables on the grid to combat climate change. These reasons are at the core of why and how the electrical grid is evolving to combat carbon emissions. Production tax credits and Renewable Portfolio Standards [RPS] “are a key policy measures used by states in the United States to increase their production of renewable electricity” (Lyon 2016, 141). Lyons work is one example of how legislation is succeeding integrating renewable energy resources to reducing carbon carbon emissions. However, he emphasizes that it is not the most economically efficient way to do so. Here it is important to research if, and how, the cost to consumers has increased and if it has risen as a result of renewable energy resource integration. Roughly twenty years ago many people did not think that the grid could handle 5%-15% of load being served by variable resources, which most renewable energy resources are (Martinot, 2016). Yet the increase in demand for renewable energy, which has been perpetuated by policy requirements, such as RPS, are forcing utilities and independent power providers to turn that same grid into a grid that can handle more renewable energy resources. For example, California is requiring their utilities to serve 60% of their load with renewable resources by 2030 (DSIRE 2018). In addition to economic incentives and policy requirements, many new, cost effective innovations are driving the transition to renewables. For instance, “ [l]arge-scale sustainable energy systems will be necessary for substantial reduction of CO2….Adding ‘vehicle-to-grid’ (V2G) technology to EVs can provide storage, matching the time of generation to time of load” (Lund 2008, 3578). This is a possible solution to reduce carbon emissions by reducing the reliance on oil while simultaneously providing grid reliability services (Lund 2008). Additionally, distributed energy resources [DERs] are being utilized to assist the integration of intermittent renewable energy resources to provide additional generation and reliability services (Carrasco 2006).  These are just two examples of how the grid is evolving to adapt and maximize the value of renewables integration onto the grid.

Policy research provided insight to the possible impediments of integrating renewables. However, those impediments do not start, or stop, with policy. There are also the challenges of geographical diversity, innovative technologies, and existing infrastructure constraints. I further researched how existing industry infrastructure operates (generation, transmission, and distribution), ensuring that I understanding the fundamentals of how the electrical industry contributes and combats carbon emissions.  To understand the expected amount of renewables integrated onto the great it is important to focus on the future of renewable energy, looking at both targets and scenarios. Specifically looking at the “trade-offs between renewables, nuclear power, and carbon capture and storage (CCS) from coal” and (Martinot 2007) Borenstein’s article explains and reviews how the restructuring of the electric industry in the 1990s and how it impacts vertically integrated utilities today. The paper discusses the 1990s expectation for present day’s resource portfolio as well as how the current amount of renewables conflicts with those expectations (Borenstein 2015). In addition to these academic articles I plan on actively consulting with key stakeholders within the electric industry and industry documents to obtain a better understanding of how the the integration of renewables impacts the electrical grid as well as the environment. The concentration will give me the opportunity to apply my economics major to review and explain key factors that have contributed to the increase integration of renewables and how this impacts the environment.

This foundational research will make it possible for me to accurately analyze and tackle the key impediments that are preventing large percentages of intermittent renewables to be integrated onto the electrical grid. By looking at the past, current, and expected future conditions of the electrical grid, I will be able to fully grasp the economics which are influencing the development of renewables, specific policies that are the most prevalent within the United States, as well as in individual states, that are or are not stimulating renewable energy development, and how the integration of different intermittent resources impacts the cost and reliability of electricity to rate paying consumers. Additionally, I aim to understand which innovations are assisting, and future innovations that hopefully will assist, the integration of renewables and how these different innovations are successfully, or failing, to drive the integration of renewables.

– Concentration Questions –

Descriptive
How are generation, transmission, and distribution currently connected and how are renewable energy resources integrating on to the grid? When more renewables are on the grid, do thermal generators produce more or less carbon emissions as they are ramped more aggressively to combat the intermittency of renewable resources? What policies are the most prevalent within the United States and certain states to stimulate renewable energy development? What renewable energy resources are more effective and what needs to be further developed to reach renewable energy targets?

Explanatory
Why do certain states have their specific resource portfolio (generation, transmission, and distribution) and how does their respective geographic location and Reliability Councils and  Interconnection influence this? What is motivating (policy, innovation, economics) the integration of renewables and thermal generation resources? How are these different motivators successfully, or failing, to drive the integration of renewables?

Evaluative
How does the integration of different resources impact the cost and reliability of electricity to rate paying consumers? How do renewable energy resources influence reliability and the operation of other thermals and hydro plants? How does the operation of renewable energy resources change energy markets and influence the variability of wholesale energy prices?

Instrumental
How do renewable energy policies need to improve and evolve to support successful high levels of reliable renewable energy integration?

– Bibliography –

Borenstein, Severin, and James Bushnell. “The U.S. Electricity Industry After 20 Years of Restructuring.” 04 2015. doi:10.3386/w21113.

Carrasco, J.M., L.G. Franquelo, J.T. Bialasiewicz, E. Galvan, R.C. PortilloGuisado, M.A.M.    Prats, J.I. Leon, and N. Moreno-Alfonso. 2006. “Power-Electronic Systems for the Grid Integration of Renewable Energy Sources: A Survey.” IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics 53 (4): 1002–16. https://doi.org/10.1109/TIE.2006.878356.

Greenblatt, Jeffery B., Nicholas R. Brown, Rachel Slaybaugh, Theresa Wilks, Emma Stewart, and Sean T. McCoy. 2017. “The Future of Low-Carbon Electricity.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources 42 (1): 289–316. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-102016-061138.

Lund, Henrik, and Willett Kempton. “Integration of renewable energy into the transport and electricity sectors through V2G.” Energy policy 36, no. 9 (2008): 3578-3587.

Lyon, Thomas P. “Impacts of Renewable Portfolio Standards.” SSRN Electronic Journal, 2016. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2719354.

Martinot, Eric. “Grid Integration of Renewable Energy: Flexibility, Innovation, and Experience.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources 41, no. 1 (11 2016): 223-51. doi:10.1146/annurev-environ-110615-085725.

Martinot, Eric, Carmen Dienst, Liu Weiliang, and Chai Qimin. “Renewable Energy Futures: Targets, Scenarios, and Pathways.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources 32, no. 1 (11 2007): 205-39. doi:10.1146/annurev.energy.32.080106.133554.

Schipper, Lee, Fridtjof Unander, Scott Murtishaw, and Mike Ting. “INDICATORS OF ENERGY USE AND CARBON EMISSIONS: Explaining the Energy Economy Link.” Annual Review of Energy and the Environment 26, no. 1 (11 2001): 49-81. doi:10.1146/annurev.energy.26.1.49.

Seto, Karen C., Steven J. Davis, Ronald B. Mitchell, Eleanor C. Stokes, Gregory Unruh, and Diana Ürge-Vorsatz. 2016. “Carbon Lock-In: Types, Causes, and Policy Implications.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources 41 (1): 425–52. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-110615-085934.

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