Path towards
100% renewable energy (JR 81)
Introduction
We are on the verge
of a profound and urgently necessary shift in the way we produce and use
energy. This shift will move the world away from the consumption of fossil
resources toward cleaner, renew- able forms of power. Renewable Energy (RE)
technologies are blowing the whistle on oil dependency and spark economic and
social renaissance .The global energy market is constantly evolving. Current
market trends show the energy landscape is in transition towards more flexible
energy systems with a rapidly increasing share of renewable energy, declining
base load generation and wider applications of storage technology. The
declining costs of renewables have begun to reduce new investments into coal
and other inflexible base load technologies; a transition which will eventually
cause renewables to become the new base load. In 2017 itself, 14% of
electricity generation worldwide was attributed to wind and solar.
An unprecedented drop in the cost of producing clean energy has
occurred in the last couple of years. It is becoming the cheapest source of
power for more and more countries. Both solar and wind power have undergone an
annual average percentage drop in cost of production in the mid to high teens.
These heady declines in cost are likely to continue over the next decade.
Given its increasing affordability, the applications and use
cases of renewable energy have broadened. Alongside electricity production, it
is providing new solutions for mobility and energy security worldwide
The
renewable revolution
There are quite a few positive
economic and financial impacts of a 100 % strategy
to reduce
their consumption of expensive and volatile fossil energy sources
such as diesel and fuel oil, substituting them with local renewable
energy resources. This represents direct
cost savings for governments and utilities, as many renewable energy technologies
are now cheaper
than imported fossil
resources. in
recent years, market trends show a steady decline in the price of renewable
energy in the global power system. Investments into new inflexible base load
generation are also on the decline and price performance data shows the cost
competitiveness of wind and solar is rapidly increasing as compared to
traditional thermal generation. In the past 20 years, the cost per kW of wind
power plants has decreased by 40% and solar has dropped by 90%. Currently, wind
and solar attribute to approximately 1,100 GW of electricity globally which
forecasts indicate will rise to 2,000 GW in 2024. Similar trends in global
energy storage deployments show an increase from 139 MW in 2012 to 1,173 MW in
2017 Annual global installations of renewable energy capacity are also steadily
increasing. In 2017, 175 GW of new renewable energy was installed globally, the
highest year on record.This includes 98 GW of solar PV which is expected to
rise to 100 GW in 2018. This industry transformation and global advancement
towards renewable generation has made it more difficult for existing inflexible
baseload power plants, such as coal and nuclear, to efficiently provide
solutions for customers. Since investments define and dictates a company’s
strategy for the future, the existing business model is shifting from the era
where centralized large units benefited from economies of scale. Moreover, as
investments in new intermittent energy technology grow and prices for
renewables reach a tipping point, utilities are starting to change their
portfolios to involve more renewables and flexible generation. Flexible
solutions like engine power plants and energy storage are the key to providing
the needed reliability and ensuring the affordable cost of power systems.
Renewale costs are forcasted to come down as follows:
Global weighted average data
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|||||||
Investment costs (2015 USD/kW)
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Percent change
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Capacity
|
factor
|
Percent change2
|
LCOE (2015 USD/kWh)
|
Percent change
|
||
2015 2025
|
|
2015
|
2025
|
|
2015 2025
|
|||
Solar PV
|
1 810 790
|
-57%
|
18%
|
19%
|
8%
|
0.13 0.06
|
-59%
|
|
CSP (PTC: parabolic trough collector)
|
5 550
|
3 700
|
-33%
|
41%
|
45%
|
8.4%
|
0.15 0.09
-0.19 -0.12
|
-37%
|
CSP (ST: solar tower)
|
5 700
|
3 600
|
-37%
|
46%
|
49%
|
7.6%
|
0.15 0.08
-0.19 -0.11
|
-43%
|
Onshore wind
|
1 560 1 370
|
-12%
|
27%
|
30%
|
11%
|
0.07 0.05
|
-26%
|
|
Offshore wind
|
4 650 3 950
|
-15%
|
43%
|
45%
|
4%
|
0.18 0.12
|
-35%
|
Decreasing
renewable costs
Today, large markets such as the US, the UK
and specific regions in Central Europe exist for stand-alone energy storage due
to high fuel costs and the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) of renewables
set to fall below those of conventional coal and gas by 2040. This will lead to
a tipping point, where new build renewables will become cheaper than new build
combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) or coal baseload plants and cause increasing
focus on new investments into renewables. This tipping point will arrive at
different times in different countries – in China, onshore wind is now
beginning to gain a competitive advantage over coal however in the US, the
best-in-class on shore wind is already cheaper than the new build CCGT.
Renewables
cheaper than base load plants
A second tipping point will arrive when new
build renewables become cheaper than running an existing gas or coal plant,
hence the loaded costs of renewables will become cheaper than the marginal
costs of thermal generation. This will cause retirements of thermal plants from
the system ahead of their economic lifetime and speed up the transition.
Eventually, these tipping points will lead to renewables achieving grid parity
– where they generate power at an LCOE less than or equal to price of purchasing
power from the electricity grid, without subsidies or government support.On a
levelised cost of energy basis, by 2040, solar will become another 60% cheaper
and wind will become another 40% cheaper.
Renewables
replacing base load
Base
load capacity is being shut down and a prime example of this in Australia,
which is in the process of steady decarburization. AGL Energy Limited,
Australia’s leading integrated energy company is planning to replace the 1,000
MW Liddell coal plant with 1,600 MW of renewable energy, an additional 750 MW
of flexible gas capacity and an additional 250 MW of energy storage.
Need
for New Power Structure
In several emerging countries or regions,
there is a massive need to expand access to electricity. Today, about 1.3
billion people in the world lack access to electricity; just in India, 250
million people do not have access. Large areas of Sub-Saharan Africa face the
same challenge; the gap with time is not shirking
Reliable access to power is essential to
improve the living conditions of populations across the world. It is also
essential to enable the development of stronger manufacturing industries that
can fuel economic growth and support the rise of a middle class. In short,
access to power is absolutely necessary to allow emerging market countries to
continue their economic convergence process.
As populations in large emerging markets
populations improve their standards of living towards those currently enjoyed
by advanced economies, natural resources consumption will grow at a fast pace.
Sustainability is already a global priority—its importance will only grow in
the coming decades. Countries will have to develop new strategies and solutions
to make energy consumption more efficient, and improve the effectiveness and
resiliency of energy distribution networks.
Developed countries, where electrification
rates are already at or close to 100%, will also need to reduce emissions from
power plants and improve energy efficiency as their economies continue to grow.
Moreover, aging infrastructure in both generation and grid, as well as, an
aging workforce, represent significant challenges.
Meanwhile, there is still significant scope
to further reduce inefficiencies and losses in generation, transmission and
distribution, to help ensure sufficient electricity provision across the global
economy in a sustainable manner.
The future of energy is a new value chain augmented
and interconnected by digital technologies, where both power and information
flow in multiple directions, all actors add value to the system, and the
overall efficiency and resilience of the system hinge on information sharing,
openness, collaboration, coordination, and the right set of incentives. The end
result will be a system that provides electricity in the most reliable,
sustainable, and economic manner.
New
Power and Energy System
It will encompass three key elements:
(1) A digital centralized generation pool,
relying on a mix of fossil fuel and renewable sources; (2) a digital grid,
connecting generation and consumption, and enabling the multidirectional flows
of energy and information; and (3) a digital consumption setup, improving consumption
patterns along with distributed generation and storage capacity.
Energy providers will join a new breed of
digital-industrial companies. This will require changing their business models
to take full advantage of new digital capabilities: balancing the fuel mix
through big data analytics, accelerating the adoption of natural gas and
renewable; optimizing plant operation by using analytics to reduce cost and
emissions while maximizing economic output; and developing new ways to interact
with customers. The power grid will realize its potential as a platform,
accelerating innovation and efficiency gains.
This transformation will not be easy. It
will require investing in infrastructure and new technologies; changing
mindsets, public policies, and business models; investing in people through
education and on-the-job skills upgrading; and developing open standards and
ensuring interoperability. It will require the highest degree of cyber security
against potential data privacy and system security risks.
The convergence of digital and physical
technologies provides opportunity of unprecedented magnitude. It could provide a future of energy that
realizes the goal of ubiquitous access to clean, reliable, sustainable and
secure electricity, while fostering economic growth through the creation of new
energy ecosystems.
New Power
Structure
It will encompass three key elements: a
digital centralized generation pillar, relying on a mix of fossil fuel and
renewable sources; a digital grid, connecting generation and consumption,
enabling the multidirectional flows of energy and information; and a digital
consumption pillar, which will play an important role not just in improving
consumption patterns, but in adding generation and storage capacity.
Centralized power generation will remain critical even with the rise of
distributed energy resources. It will provide the majority of the power supply,
and ensure the continuity and reliability of electricity provision. The
longstanding goal of ensuring reliable, affordable and safe access to
electricity remains unchanged in the future of energy, and can only be
guaranteed by a strong centralized power generation system.
Planning, Generation and Transmission
Digital technologies will transform power generation
from the very earliest stages, starting with the design and siting of power
plants, and continuing through the operations and maintenance phases. The
planning process will utilize comprehensive big-data analysis of the energy
network. Data from distribution grid assets such as advanced meters,
intelligent feeder monitoring and distributed resources can be combined with
transmission data from phasor measurement units and other monitoring devices to
develop predicted sub-hourly scenarios. These analyses will enable designers to
simulate the load demand on a power plant. They will also estimate the
financial viability of the plant under different alternative configurations,
through a better understanding of the plant’s complex interactions with all
other resources in the energy system. This can also help utilities balance
their generation portfolio.
Renewable power plants are particularly impacted by
location. Shading or vegetation can affect how much light reaches a solar
plant; wind farms are dependent on wind patterns A Digital Wind Farm, instead of settling for
the least common denominator model, will allow to customize every turbine to
its unique location on the farm. This can only be done by integrating the
advances in digital infrastructure (cloud computation, advanced load and
weather simulation algorithms, satellite topology images, etc.) and hardware
technologies (modular turbines that allow different configurations such as
optimum hub height, blade length and generator rating). The location of a new
centralized power generation facility will also need to take into account the
necessary Transmission and Distribution (T&D) infrastructure. T&D
siting often involves a lengthy process of engaging multiple stakeholders to
devise the appropriate pathway between power plants and load centers.
Today, new data tools such as advanced geospatial
platforms and power flow modeling can evaluate the best grid layout and
determine appropriate capacity requirements. Assessing sub-hourly interval data
can help develop detailed scenarios to understand the tradeoff between
installing or upgrading distribution lines and adding distributed energy
resources, or how those resources may impact power flow. These digital capabilities
are even more important when the environment becomes subject to faster, more
frequent and more complex changes because of new revenue streams and system
requirements such as frequency response, and new markets such as ancillary and
capacity markets. These require more real time decisions and an improved
transparency between plant capabilities and market dispatch.
The power lines,
transformers, and control stations that make up
current energy grid are old, increasingly unreliable, and not adequate
to handle a significant increase in renewable energy.
To move toward a
cleaner energy economy, is need to
improve electrical grid, as well as
construct the transmission infrastructure needed to connect renewable energy
facilities to cities and regions with high power demand.
Global progress towards achieving a 100%
renewable energy future is being made at an incredibly rapid pace. Power
providers, utilities and governments are changing their perspectives towards
inflexible generation and existing thermal capacity is being replaced with
renewables. This phased transformation, from the global power system operating
at 0-20% renewables to a stage where 80-100% renewable energy systems will
exist, requires major changes in infrastructure, investments and innovation in
technology.
Status Quo
In the past, due to renewables being
expensive as compared to fossil fuels, a large proportion of energy was
produced by inflexible plants operating on coal, natural gas and nuclear.
Inflexible generation was utilized to provide both base load power and peaking
generation and opportunities for storage to cost effectively address ancillary
services were limited due to the lack of development in the technology.
Moreover, in this 0% renewables scenario, power systems in countries were based
on conventional centralised grids and consumers were passive participants.
Currently, the world is at 14% renewables, where flexible thermal capacity has
begun to replace inflexible generation to enable more stable grids and
renewables are becoming more competitive without subsidies. Now, storage is
being more widely used for energy shifting and increasing intermittent load
profiles are challenging the existing business model. Soon, grid parity of
renewables and energy storage will also be achieved as the feasibility of
integrating them increases. It
is still everybody’s perception that it is cheaper to make power from coal than
it is from renewables, and it is no longer the case. We are in an exciting
transition where we can see where the market is going, and that is towards a
renewable energy future.
Near Future
In an 80-100% renewables scenario, there
will be no role for inflexible generation as renewables become the new base load
and excess renewable energy is used as raw material for other commodities. This
increase in the usage of renewables will require highly flexible thermal
capacity to maintain system reliability and energy storage will become a key
component in the base load grid to maintain overall grid balance. As the
information and knowledge surrounding power generation is demystified,
consumers will begin to actively participate in the system management and
power-to-gas will be utilised to produce synthetic gas for flexible back up and
seasonal load variations in lieu of flexible thermal capacity. On the issue of energy security and dispatch able
power, he says that a combination of wind and solar with battery storage
supplemented by pumped hydro generation could successfully supply the
Australian market, without the need for coal-fired generation. Battery storage,
gas turbines burning renewable fuels, and using excess wind and solar capacity
to pump water uphill in hydro plants to provide power during demand peaks could
deliver the 25% dispatch able capacity to ensure energy security.
Increasing flexibility in every part of a
power system is vital to achieve high renewable integration. Flexibility
ensures that power systems can adapt to fluctuations in both demand and supply
in a cost effective manner. Conventional power systems were focused on ensuring
sufficient generation capacity to meet peak demand however for power systems
with a greater share of renewables, it will be more important to have
sufficient flexibility. As the usage of renewables increase, variations in
supply and demand will be significantly higher due to the intermittency of
renewable energy sources, thus arises the need for efficient power regulation.
Flexibility offers power regulation, which
is utilized for providing additional power for balancing the system when required
and reducing power when demand decreases. In the short term, it will be
important to provide the ability to maintain quick response times, where as in
longer time frames, energy shifting and offering larger storage content will
require more emphasis. Operational planning flexibility will also be required
to ensure that sufficient flexibility resources are available to enable safe
operation under forecast uncertainty in the supply (loss of generation units)
The three main types of flexibility required
are daily, weekly and seasonal flexibility The daily variations caused by changes in
supply and demand will be covered by energy storage, a key component for
overall grid balancing and will provide second and minute level frequency
balancing when renewable energy is unavailable. In a 100% renewables scenario,
flexible thermal capacity which will incorporate synthetic gas, biogas and
synthetic liquid fuels for back up will replace existing baseload capacity and
ensure week to week shifting and system reliability. Lastly, seasonal variation
caused by significant changes in weather conditions such as monsoons or
extended periods of daylight, will greatly affect the output of a high
renewables power system. This will be balanced by fuel as a form of energy storage
with existing LNG infrastructure and power-to-gas.
Since wind and solar power
depend on the sun shining and the wind blowing, one way to deliver 100 percent
renewable energy to a customer is by pairing that energy with pumped hydropower
storage.
New Investments
In addition to investing in increasing
flexibility, the transition to a 100% renewable energy system also requires
massive investments in new capacity. As existing base load capacity will be
replaced by flexible thermal capacity, renewables and storage, the intermittent
nature of renewables will require a large increase in generation capacity to
sufficiently meet peak demand as compared to traditional baseload power plants.
In an 80% renewable energy system scenario, assuming peak demand remains
constant, four times as much renewable energy capacity is required to meet
demand compared to a 0% renewable system. Similarly, a 100% renewable energy
system requires five times the amount of renewable energy capacity and four
times the amount of energy storage. These investments, however massive, will
become the lowest cost options in the future due to the decreasing costs of
renewables.
On a country level, modelling conducted for
the Philippines shows that total installed capacity increases from 24,735 MW to
64,271 MW from 20% renewable energy sources (RES) to 100% RES. Additionally,
storage increases from 0 MWh to 44,000 MWh. These trends signify the importance
of these sustainable technologies in the future and the importance of investing
into these to accelerate the growth to a cleaner future.
To
move to 100 percent renewable by 2050
no energy mix is quite the same: Sudan might rely heavily on rooftop
solar panels, while Switzerland would depend on hydroelectric. The U.S. would lean on wind power. If these
plans were fully deployed, 58 percent of the world’s energy would come from
solar, 37 percent from wind, and the rest from hydroelectric, geothermal,
tidal, and wave energy. Worldwide, all households, businesses, and governments
would switch to electric appliances and heating systems—plus cars, trains,
boats, planes, and heavy-duty vehicles. That level of transformation sounds
daunting, and incredibly costly: the upfront cost of installing nearly 50
terawatts’ worth of wind, water, and solar technologies around the world at an
astounding $125 trillion.
A recent study, Greenpeace and DLR (German
Aerospace Center) found that the investment necessary to reach a 100 per cent
renewable goal will be huge, namely US$1 trillion a year. However, the good
news is that it will be more than covered by the US$1.07 trillion in savings on
fuel costs alone in the same period, (not to mention the vast co-benefits to
human health and the avoided costs from climate change-related extreme
weather). Phasing out fossil fuels and moving to 100% renewables make economic
sense – especially when the true costs of our current energy system are taken
into account. In recent years, the costs of wind and solar energy have declined
substantially. For example, solar PV panel prices have dropped 75% since 2009
Electricity to be the energy of the future
The world is traveling slowly to 100 percent renewable
resources, but according to leading scientists, this mission can be completed
by the year 2050 with current technology. To accomplish this, electricity must
replace conventional forms of power such as combustible engines and other
systems which run primarily on gas or require a lot of heat. Although many
major aspects of the world are already powered by electricity, barriers in
industry, transportation, homes, and businesses need to be resolved before the
path to 100 percent renewables are a conceivable option. Specifically, two main
attributes come into play when considering the path to 100 percent renewable
energy .Worldwide,
all households, businesses, and governments would switch to electric appliances
and heating systems—plus cars, trains, boats, planes, and heavy-duty vehicles Achieving 100 % RE
will require increasing the inter- connection between the electricity, the heating/ cooling,
as well as the transport sectors. This allows renewable electricity to be channeled to a wider range
of dispatchable end-uses such as in thermal systems,
alternative forms of storage, or in
electric vehicles. the
move toward greater
electrification of heating
and transport is likely to make
it easier for jurisdictions to achieve their 100 % RE targets.
The
WEO states that global electricity supply “is being transformed by the rise of renewables, putting electricity at the centre
of the response to a range of environmental challenges”.It stresses that
“increasing digitalization of the global economy is going
hand-in-hand with electrification, making the need for electricity for daily
living more essential than ever. Electricity is increasingly the ‘fuel’ of
choice for meeting the energy needs of households and companies.”
In
what it calls its New Policies Scenario, the IEA forecasts that between now and
2040, nearly 90 per cent of electricity demand growth will be in developing
countries, while demand in advanced economies will come on the back of policies
promoting the electrification of mobility and heat. In this scenario, it adds
that by 2040, electricity demand in China will be more than twice that of the
US, “with India a not-too-distant
third”.
And
the IEA notes that the potential for further electrification from today “is
huge”: 65 per cent of final energy use could technically be met by electricity
– today’s figure is 19 per cent. Birol also confirmed that for the first time,
the total number of people with no access to electricity has fallen below 1
billion, driven in large part by the rural electrification efforts of the India
government. And this kind of government intervention will increase, predicts
the IEA. It advises that governments will have a critical influence in the
direction of the future energy system, far more so than in recent years.
“Over
70 per cent of global energy investments will be government-driven and as such
the message is clear – the world’s energy destiny lies with government decisions,”
said Dr Fatih Birol, the IEA’s Executive Director. “Crafting the right policies
and proper incentives will be critical to meeting our common goals of securing
energy supplies, reducing carbon emissions, improving air quality in urban
centres, and expanding basic access to energy in Africa and elsewhere.”
The
WEO finds mixed signals on the pace and direction of change. Oil markets are
“entering a period of renewed uncertainty and volatility, including a possible
supply gap in the early 2020s”. Meanwhile, demand for natural gas is on the
rise, “erasing talk of a glut, as China emerges as a giant consumer”. The IEA
notes that in power markets, “renewables have become the technology of choice,
making up almost two-thirds of global capacity additions to 2040, thanks to
falling costs and supportive government policies”.
Birol
said that this “is transforming the global power mix”, and he forecast that the
share of renewables in generation will rise to over 40 per cent by 2040, from
25 per cent today, even though coal remains the largest power source and gas
remains the second-largest.
“This
expansion brings major environmental benefits but also a new set of challenges
that policy makers need to address quickly, he explained. “With higher
variability in supplies, power systems will need to make flexibility the
cornerstone of future electricity markets in order to keep the lights on.
"The issue is of growing urgency as countries around the world are quickly
ramping up their share of solar
PV and wind, and will require market reforms,
grid investments, as well as improving demand-response technologies, such as
smart meters and battery storage technologies.”
Market
understanding
An energy system integrator should
understand the evolving energy market and analyze economic and market trends to
recognize value-based opportunities for customers in the utility and industrial
market. Modern power system modeling, including technology flexibility
constraints, high-resolution renewable energy profiles and co-optimization of
energy and reserves, should be conducted to identify the requirements and
long-term capacity additional needs for optimal power systems. This provides a
holistic view of the type of assets that should be integrated into the system,
the system requirements on a customer or country level and the type of
technologies needed to minimize costs, and to maximize efficiency and
reliability.
Way Forward
Based on power system analysis and optimization,
the next step is to design and build the assets required in a system. It
requires looking within an individual asset, i.e. the building of a new power
plant, which may be a hybrid (integrated solar, engines, storage) or a single
technology power plant, to identify the various sub systems that need to be
integrated and provide one functioning entity that can operate in a power
system in the intended way. This step also requires understanding the values
and operational and maintenance profiles for customers depending on the complexity
of the power system and the number of energy sources to be integrated to create
an optimal power system.
In order to set the scene for 100% renewables, the
following policy principles are needed:
– provide market access for newcomers like citizens
– provide investment security to enable people to put their money on the right technology
– ensure direct benefits to communities
– increase efficiency of the energy system by combining heat and power
– create a level playing field between the renewable energies sector and fossil fuel industry
– provide investment security to enable people to put their money on the right technology
– ensure direct benefits to communities
– increase efficiency of the energy system by combining heat and power
– create a level playing field between the renewable energies sector and fossil fuel industry
. We need to
facilitate dialogue so that countries can learn from the
invaluable experiences of other countries in order to avoid wasting scarce
resources.
Policy-makers, who wish to streamline their
efforts in achieving the target of 100% renewable energy .need to:
#1: Make energy efficiency a top priority
#2: Electrify the heating/cooling and
transport sector
#3: Maximize opportunities for citizen
participation and the development of business models
#4: Educate and inform citizens and
businesses
#5: Adopt an integrated approach to fiscal,
economic & energy policy
Major
barriers and solutions
For a country to become 100% renewable, it
faces certain technical, economical and political challenges.
- Technical challenges include building of a truly smart grid and integration of storage and micro grid into it. An automated demand response has to be developed to manage energy usage and large swing in supply during peak electric demand, particularly in buildings. Last decade has seen the tremendous development in low cost smart electronics, which will enable the necessary energy management.
- Technical challenges include building of a truly smart grid and integration of storage and micro grid into it. An automated demand response has to be developed to manage energy usage and large swing in supply during peak electric demand, particularly in buildings. Last decade has seen the tremendous development in low cost smart electronics, which will enable the necessary energy management.
- Economic
constrains also offers major challenge, as substantial investment is
required for the implementation of renewable energy on large scale. It requires
large investment in grid storage, transmission to redistribute power and to
smooth out intermittency. Among the storage methods available today,
pumped-storage hydroelectricity is most cost effective. Low cost electric motors
can also be encouraged as it offers the potential for substantial storage via
vehicle-to-grid architectures.
- Political
challenges include creation of regulatory framework, setting standards and
offering incentives to economies to enable them to make dramatic shift in their
energy usage to renewables .Political will to accomplish such a challenging
goal must exist and political leaders should come together to plot a
course that make economic sense.
Renewable energy should be targeted in the
most effective locations such as in the areas without an extensive grid
infrastructure, micro-grids should be created and energy storage should be
utilized. We should gradually move towards 100% renewable and allow technical
advancement and cost reduction along the way which will be driven by global
market.
Technology upgrades
Technology upgrades look at
capital-intensive equipment and fleet that will be replaced over the medium and
long-term. The plan will identify the timing of upgrades or replacements
evaluate available and emerging options to achieve step-changes in energy
efficiency, and estimate the likely costs and benefits
This way, end-of-life opportunities to
implement best practice technologies are not missed and can be planned and
budgeted for. Options can also include fuel switching and electric vehicles.
Customer
needs awareness
Serving seeks to provide a comprehensive
understanding of energy systems, including fully integrated assets and advanced
software complete with value adding lifecycle services for customers. This step
also includes understanding the customers’ needs over the lifecycle and how to
optimise and maintain the existing asset portfolio of a power market operator.
Solutions for a 100% renewable energy future
Flexibility and hybrid solutions are
critical components for leading this transition to a 100% renewable energy
future. Smart Power Generation plants provide the best means of support to the
power system by offering the highest degree of flexibility, enabling major
savings, and creating an optimized response to rapid changes in intermittent
generation. To enable the transition for its customers
Smart Power Generation (SPG) engine power
plants play a key role in providing the operational and fuel flexibility for
engine power plants needed to enable the transition to a modern, reliable power
system. For today’s emerging low carbon systems, it effectively absorbs current
and future system load variations and provides dramatic savings.SPG technology:
balances large input fluctuations of wind and solar; Allows base load plants to
be released from cyclic operation and provides high efficiency base load,
peaking, and load following power; Contributes to grid frequency regulation and
system stability; Improves the total efficiency of power systems. Its main
cornerstones are high energy efficiency, outstanding operational flexibility,
and multi-fuel operation.
SPG provides super-fast grid reserve
capacity on a national power system level and while in standby mode; SPG
reserve capacity does not consume any fuel, generate emissions or suffer from
wear and has a start-up time of 2 minutes. When large power plants are not
needed to provide reserve capacity over and above the capacity needed to meet
normal peak demand, the efficiency of the whole power system increases. This enables
a more stable operational profile for the large power plants and the additional
maintenance costs connected with cyclic operation are reduced.
Energy
storage hybrid solutions
Energy storage technologies are a critical
part of the power system in a 100% renewable energy world. Both capacities and
output of storage are expected to increase hundredfold with more than a quarter
of all electricity in the system going through storage and the 1.3 TWh of
storage energy capacity present today is expected to rise to 1,050 TWh
.
Gas-to-power
In recent years, there has been a global
shift towards cleaner fuels. This has led to an increasing abundance of
liquefied natural gas (LNG) available from markets and increased opportunity to
transport LNG in smaller quantities to smaller users. Levelised costs of
electricity in the US especially show that gas can compete closely with coal on
a cost of generation basis and the role of gas in power generation is
increasing as it is being more widely utilised to run engine power plants that
are integrated with intermittent wind and solar systems.
Gas power plants are advantageous as
compared to other thermal dispatch able plants as they can be constructed
rapidly at a reasonable cost and produce lower emissions. As the share of wind
and solar capacity increases and the net load to thermal plants decreases, gas
power plants can also provide peaking to system balancing. Liquefied natural
gas is a low emission fuel that is becoming increasingly relevant for
industrial facilities, shipping industries, and energy providers.
Conclusions
Today, we have the technology to address at least 80% of the
world’s energy needs with renewable resources, at a socioeconomic cost less
than or at parity with our current dirty ways. And while the path to 100%
renewable energy still requires a great deal of technological innovation, we
have some of the best minds on the planet tackling the last 20% of the
equation. From catalyzing hydrogen with solar resources for fuel cells, to
battery technologies with smart demand response, to innovative financial
mechanisms that incentivize solar deployment in developing countries – there
are countless initiatives across the world to address the technological and
economic challenges of 100% renewable energy.
The transition to a 100% renewable energy
future is well underway, with increasing renewable integration, decreasing cost
competitiveness of inflexible power generation and remarkable changes in the
energy markets across the globe. To work towards a cleaner, more sustainable
and energy efficient future, it is imperative for energy providers to adapt
their strategies.
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