SLIDE 1 Cost–competitive Reduction of Carbon Emissions of up to 80% from the US Electric Sector by 2030
Alexander E. MacDonald Christopher Clack* Anneliese Alexander* Adam Dunbar Yuanfu Xie James Wilczak
NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory *Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences
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SLIDE 2
Wind capacity factor: Power costs 3 to 4 cents in red areas.
SLIDE 3 Spectrum of atmospheric kinetic energy density. Weather energy is concentrated at large scales.
US 48 states Balancing Area
SLIDE 4
Though wind power may be missing in a small area, it is likely to be available in a larger area.
SLIDE 5 Solar PV Capacity Factor Map
% % % %
SLIDE 6
Step 1. We collected an extraordinarily detailed and accurate weather data set. Step 2. We collected electric load data concurrent in time with the weather data. Step 3. We developed a power system simulator that used all power sources and associated infrastructure (transmission and storage). Step 4. The simulator finds the least expensive configuration of the entire power system using hourly wind, solar and load concurrently. Step 5. The weather and economic simulator was used to study the geographic domain size effects of wind and solar energy generation systems.
US Study: National Energy System Designer
SLIDE 7
Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) Hourly Assimilation
11 12 13
Ti Tim e (UTC TC)
1-hr fcst
Background Fields Analysis Fields
1-hr fcst
3dvar
Obs 1-hr fcst
3dvar
Obs
Cycle hydrometeor, soil temp/moisture/snow plus atmosphere state variables
Hourly obs Data Type ~ Number
Rawinsonde (12h) 150 NOAA profilers 35 VAD winds 120-140 PBL – prof/ RASS ~ 25 Aircraft (V,temp) 3500-10000 TAMDAR (V,T,RH) * 200-3000 Surface/ METAR 2000-2500 Buoy/ ship 200-400 GOES cloud winds 4000-8000 GOES cloud-top pres 10 km res GPS precip water ~ 300 Mesonet (temp, dpt) ~ 8000 Mesonet (wind) ~ 4000 METAR-cloud-vis-wx ~ 1800 AMSU-A/ B/ GOES radiances – RR
RR only
Radar reflectivity/ lightning 1km
SLIDE 8
Wind Speed Video (m/s)
SLIDE 9
Solar Irradiance Video (W/m2)
SLIDE 10
Step 1. We collected an extraordinarily detailed and accurate weather data set. Step 2. We collected electric load data concurrent in time with the weather data. Step 3. We developed a power system simulator that used all power sources and associated infrastructure (transmission and storage). Step 4. The simulator finds the least expensive configuration of the entire power system using hourly wind, solar and load concurrently. Step 5. The weather and economic simulator was used to study the geographic domain size effects of wind and solar energy generation systems.
US Study: National Energy System Designer
SLIDE 11 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Electrical Demand (GW)
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
300 400 500 600 700 300 400 500 600 700
Electric Demand/Load
SLIDE 12
Step 1. We collected an extraordinarily detailed and accurate weather data set. Step 2. We collected electric load data concurrent in time with the weather data. Step 3. We developed a power system simulator that used all power sources and associated infrastructure (transmission and storage). Step 4. The simulator finds the least expensive configuration of the entire power system using hourly wind, solar and load concurrently. Step 5. The weather and economic simulator was used to study the geographic domain size effects of wind and solar energy generation systems.
US Study: National Energy System Designer
SLIDE 13 Land Use Constraints
- The type and amount of electricity generation installed in each RUC cell is
constrained by: – Spacing between facilities – Topography of the land – Land Use (residential, commercial, protected lands, etc…)
SLIDE 14
Cost Data/Values
Natural gas has a heat rate of 6,430 Btu / kWh. Variable O&M is $3.11 / MWh 2030 Estimates
SLIDE 15
HVDC Transmission Parameterization
SLIDE 16 Mathematical Optimization
= + + + +
Minimize:
+
Subject to: ALL OTHER EQUATIONS CONSTRAIN THE MAGNITUDE OF ANY OF THE TERMS For details of the NEWS optimization see Clack et al., IJEPES 2015.
SLIDE 17 Present Paper Optimization Procedure
Yearly cost of variable generation ($/MW)
Installed capacity of variable generation (MW)
Yearly cost of conventional generation ($/MW)
Installed capacity of conventional generation (MW) Cost of conventional fuels ($/MWh) Natural gas generation (MWh) Installed capacity
(MW) Yearly cost of transmission stations ($/MW)
Yearly cost of transmission lines ($/MW-mile)
Length of transmission lines (mile)
SLIDE 18 Variable generator Filter Installed capacity
generation (MW)
Weather Component (h)
Conventional generator filter Natural gas generation (MWh)
Electric demand (MWh) Nuclear generation (MWh) Excess generation (MWh)
Transmission power flux (MWh) Hydroelectric generation (MWh)
Subject to:
VARIABLE GENERATION
CONVENTIONAL GENERATION NET ELECTRIC DEMAND
Load constraint
Present Paper Optimization Procedure
SLIDE 19 Electric loss factor (%/mile) Transmission power flow (MWh) Transmission power flux (MWh) Transmission power flow (MWh) Length of transmission lines (mile)
VERY IMPORTANT CONSTRAINT AND EXTREMELY COMPUTATIONALLY EXPENSIVE HVDC transmission flux constraint
Present Paper Optimization Procedure
SLIDE 20 Peer reviewed description
- f the linear programming
- ptimization techniques
used.
SLIDE 21
- Optimization has O(106) equations, O(107) variables and O(108-
9) non zeroes
- Solves in O(106) iterations or O(105) seconds.
- We solve on a dedicated Server with 1 TB of RAM and 32
processors Present Paper Optimization Procedure
SLIDE 22
Step 1. We collected an extraordinarily detailed and accurate weather data set. Step 2. We collected electric load data concurrent in time with the weather data. Step 3. We developed a power system simulator that used all power sources and associated infrastructure (transmission and storage). Step 4. The simulator finds the least expensive configuration of the entire power system using hourly wind, solar and load concurrently. Step 5. The weather and economic simulator was used to study the geographic domain size effects of wind and solar energy generation systems.
US Study: National Energy System Designer
SLIDE 23
SLIDE 24
Cost optimized US Electric Power System for 2030
SLIDE 25
Dispatch of wind and solar PV within the simulation
SLIDE 26
Cost and Carbon Emission Analysis
2030
SLIDE 27 Conclusions
- Since weather is variable over large geographic
scales, wind and solar generation and use must also encompass large geographic areas to be reliable and cost effective.
- HVDC transmission grids would enable a large
domains big enough to make wind and solar work.
- The US could reduce CO2 emissions up to 80%
with comparable electric costs to recent decades.
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SLIDE 28 Questions . . . .
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