Assessing the costs and benefits of US renewable portfolio standards
Abstract
Renewable portfolio standards (RPS) exist in 29 US states and the District of Columbia. This article summarizes the first national-level, integrated assessment of the future costs and benefits of existing RPS policies; the same metrics are evaluated under a second scenario in which widespread expansion of these policies is assumed to occur. Depending on assumptions about renewable energy technology advancement and natural gas prices, existing RPS policies increase electric system costs by as much as $31 billion, on a present-value basis over 2015-2050. The expanded renewable deployment scenario yields incremental costs that range from $23 billion to $194 billion, depending on the assumptions employed. The monetized value of improved air quality and reduced climate damages exceed these costs. Using central assumptions, existing RPS policies yield $97 billion in air-pollution health benefits and $161 billion in climate damage reductions. Under the expanded RPS case, health benefits total $558 billion and climate benefits equal $599 billion. These scenarios also yield benefits in the form of reduced water use. RPS programs are not likely to represent the most cost effective path towards achieving air quality and climate benefits. Nonetheless, the findings suggest that US RPS programs are, on a national basis, cost effectivemore »
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Office of Strategic Programs
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1394683
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1404879; OSTI ID: 1417616
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/JA-6A20-70355
Journal ID: ISSN 1748-9326
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231; AC36-08GO28308
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Environmental Research Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Environmental Research Letters Journal Volume: 12 Journal Issue: 9; Journal ID: ISSN 1748-9326
- Publisher:
- IOP Publishing
- Country of Publication:
- United Kingdom
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY; assessment; renewable energy; solar power; wind power; renewable portfolio standards
Citation Formats
Wiser, Ryan, Mai, Trieu, Millstein, Dev, Barbose, Galen, Bird, Lori, Heeter, Jenny, Keyser, David, Krishnan, Venkat, and Macknick, Jordan. Assessing the costs and benefits of US renewable portfolio standards. United Kingdom: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aa87bd.
Wiser, Ryan, Mai, Trieu, Millstein, Dev, Barbose, Galen, Bird, Lori, Heeter, Jenny, Keyser, David, Krishnan, Venkat, & Macknick, Jordan. Assessing the costs and benefits of US renewable portfolio standards. United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa87bd
Wiser, Ryan, Mai, Trieu, Millstein, Dev, Barbose, Galen, Bird, Lori, Heeter, Jenny, Keyser, David, Krishnan, Venkat, and Macknick, Jordan. Tue .
"Assessing the costs and benefits of US renewable portfolio standards". United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa87bd.
@article{osti_1394683,
title = {Assessing the costs and benefits of US renewable portfolio standards},
author = {Wiser, Ryan and Mai, Trieu and Millstein, Dev and Barbose, Galen and Bird, Lori and Heeter, Jenny and Keyser, David and Krishnan, Venkat and Macknick, Jordan},
abstractNote = {Renewable portfolio standards (RPS) exist in 29 US states and the District of Columbia. This article summarizes the first national-level, integrated assessment of the future costs and benefits of existing RPS policies; the same metrics are evaluated under a second scenario in which widespread expansion of these policies is assumed to occur. Depending on assumptions about renewable energy technology advancement and natural gas prices, existing RPS policies increase electric system costs by as much as $31 billion, on a present-value basis over 2015-2050. The expanded renewable deployment scenario yields incremental costs that range from $23 billion to $194 billion, depending on the assumptions employed. The monetized value of improved air quality and reduced climate damages exceed these costs. Using central assumptions, existing RPS policies yield $97 billion in air-pollution health benefits and $161 billion in climate damage reductions. Under the expanded RPS case, health benefits total $558 billion and climate benefits equal $599 billion. These scenarios also yield benefits in the form of reduced water use. RPS programs are not likely to represent the most cost effective path towards achieving air quality and climate benefits. Nonetheless, the findings suggest that US RPS programs are, on a national basis, cost effective when considering externalities.},
doi = {10.1088/1748-9326/aa87bd},
journal = {Environmental Research Letters},
number = 9,
volume = 12,
place = {United Kingdom},
year = {Tue Sep 26 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Tue Sep 26 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa87bd
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