Renewable Electricity Futures Study., Volume 2: Renewable Electricity Generation and Storage Technologies

Technical Report · Thu May 31 20:00:00 EDT 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1046903· OSTI ID:1046903

Augustine, Chad ^[1]; Bain, Richard ^[1]; Chapman, Jamie ^[2]; Denholm, Paul ^[1]; Drury, Easan ^[1]; Hall, Douglas G. ^[3]; Lantz, Eric ^[1]; Margolis, Robert ^[1]; Thresher, Robert ^[1]; Sandor, Debra ^[1]; Bishop, Norman A. ^[4]; Brown, Stephen R. ^[5]; Cada, Glenn F. ^[6]; Felker, Fort ^[1]; Fernandez, Steven J. ^[6]; Goodrich, Alan C. ^[1]; Hagerman, George ^[7]; Heath, Garvin ^[1]; O'Neil, Sean ^[8]; Paquette, Joshua ^[9] ; Tegen, Suzanne ^[1]; Young, Katherine ^[1]

---

1. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
2. Vestas Wind Systems A/S, Porto (Portugal); Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX (United States)
3. Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
4. Knight Piésold, Naperville, IL (United States)
5. HDR, Omaha, NE (United States); DTA, Irvine, CA (United States)
6. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
7. Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)
8. Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition, Lisbon (Portugal)
9. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

The Renewable Electricity Futures (RE Futures) Study investigated the challenges and impacts of achieving very high renewable electricity generation levels in the contiguous United States by 2050. The analysis focused on the sufficiency of the geographically diverse U.S. renewable resources to meet electricity demand over future decades, the hourly operational characteristics of the U.S. gridwith high levels of variable wind and solar generation, and the potential implications of deploying high levels of renewables in the future. RE Futures focused on technical aspects of high penetration of renewable electricity; it did not focus on how to achieve such a future through policy or other measures. Given the inherent uncertainties involved with analyzing alternative long-term energyfutures as well as the multiple pathways that might be taken to achieve higher levels of renewable electricity supply, RE Futures explored a range of scenarios to investigate and compare the impacts of renewable electricity penetration levels (30%-90%), future technology performance improvements, potential constraints to renewable electricity development, and future electricity demand growthassumptions. RE Futures was led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1046903
• Report Number(s): NREL/TP--6A20-52409-2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION
25 ENERGY STORAGE
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
AVAILABILITY
ELECTRICITY
NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY
PERFORMANCE
RE Futures
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
STORAGE
United States
generation
grid integration
high penetration
high renewable
renewable electricity
scenario analysis