Large balancing areas and dispersed renewable investment enhance grid flexibility in a renewable-dominant power system in China

Journal Article · 06 January 2022 · iScience

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.103749 · OSTI ID:1891295

Lin, Jiang  ^[1]; Abhyankar, Nikit ^[2]; He, Gang  ^[3]; Liu, Xu ^[4]; Yin, Shengfei ^[2]

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1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
3. Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States)
4. Peking Univ., Beijing (China)

Renewable energy is poised to play a major role in achieving China's carbon neutrality goal by 2060; however, reliability and flexibility is a big concern of a renewable-dominant power system. Various strategies of enhancing flexibility are under discussion to ensure the reliability of such a system, but no detailed quantitative analysis has been reported yet in China. We combine the advantages of a capacity expansion model, SWITCH-China, with a production simulation model, PLEXOS, and analyze flexibility options under different scenarios of a renewable-dominant power system in China. We find that a larger balancing area offers direct flexibility benefits. Regional balancing could reduce the renewable curtailment rate by 5-7%, compared with a provincial balancing strategy. National balancing could further reduce the power cost by about 16%. However, retrofitting coal power plants for flexible operation would only improve the system flexibility marginally.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: Energy Foundation China; Growald Family Foundation; Hewlett Foundation; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231
• OSTI ID: 1891295
• Journal Information: iScience, Journal Name: iScience Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 25; ISSN 2589-0042
• Publisher: ElsevierCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English