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Title: Quantifying impacts of heat waves on power grid operation

Abstract

Climate change is projected to cause an increase in the severity and frequency of extreme weather events such as heat waves and droughts. Such changes present planning and operating challenges and risks to many economic sectors. In the electricity sector, statistics of extreme events in the past have been used to help plan for future peak loads, determine associated infrastructure requirements, and evaluate operational risks, but industry-standard planning tools have yet to be coupled with or informed by temperature models to explore the impacts of the "new normal" on planning studies. For example, high ambient temperatures during heat waves reduce the output capacity and efficiency of gas fired combustion turbines just when they are needed most to meet peak demands. This paper describes the development and application of a production cost and unit commitment model coupled to high resolution, hourly temperature data and a temperature dependent load model. The coupled system has the ability to represent the impacts of hourly temperatures on load conditions and available capacity and efficiency of combustion turbines, and therefore capture the potential impacts on system reliability and production cost. Ongoing work expands this capability to address the impacts of water availability and temperature on powermore » grid operation.« less

Authors:
; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1331733
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-116806
Journal ID: ISSN 0306-2619; KP1703030
DOE Contract Number:  
AC05-76RL01830
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Applied Energy
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 183; Journal ID: ISSN 0306-2619
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
Climate change; heat wave; power grid operation; production cost model; unit commitment

Citation Formats

Ke, Xinda, Wu, Di, Rice, Jennie S., Kintner-Meyer, Michael CW, and Lu, Ning. Quantifying impacts of heat waves on power grid operation. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.08.188.
Ke, Xinda, Wu, Di, Rice, Jennie S., Kintner-Meyer, Michael CW, & Lu, Ning. Quantifying impacts of heat waves on power grid operation. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.08.188
Ke, Xinda, Wu, Di, Rice, Jennie S., Kintner-Meyer, Michael CW, and Lu, Ning. 2016. "Quantifying impacts of heat waves on power grid operation". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.08.188.
@article{osti_1331733,
title = {Quantifying impacts of heat waves on power grid operation},
author = {Ke, Xinda and Wu, Di and Rice, Jennie S. and Kintner-Meyer, Michael CW and Lu, Ning},
abstractNote = {Climate change is projected to cause an increase in the severity and frequency of extreme weather events such as heat waves and droughts. Such changes present planning and operating challenges and risks to many economic sectors. In the electricity sector, statistics of extreme events in the past have been used to help plan for future peak loads, determine associated infrastructure requirements, and evaluate operational risks, but industry-standard planning tools have yet to be coupled with or informed by temperature models to explore the impacts of the "new normal" on planning studies. For example, high ambient temperatures during heat waves reduce the output capacity and efficiency of gas fired combustion turbines just when they are needed most to meet peak demands. This paper describes the development and application of a production cost and unit commitment model coupled to high resolution, hourly temperature data and a temperature dependent load model. The coupled system has the ability to represent the impacts of hourly temperatures on load conditions and available capacity and efficiency of combustion turbines, and therefore capture the potential impacts on system reliability and production cost. Ongoing work expands this capability to address the impacts of water availability and temperature on power grid operation.},
doi = {10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.08.188},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1331733}, journal = {Applied Energy},
issn = {0306-2619},
number = ,
volume = 183,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Thu Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}