Time to grapple with collateral issues of renewable standards
A number of states with aggressive renewable portfolio standards (RPS) are beginning to get a taste of what is likely to come as more renewable resources are added to the network. Three issues stand out: the need for more transmission capacity; the need for significant additional storage and/or balancing resources, often in the form of thermal peaking units; the costs of these requirements, plus the incremental cost of renewable resources, quickly add up. A study to examine the effect of California's 33 percent RPS mandate by 2020, for example, concludes that meeting the target will cost $8.9 billion in 2020 while saving some $6.3 billion in avoided costs, resulting in a net cost of $2.6 billion, all in 2008 dollars. To meet the target will require building eight major transmission lines and a significant amount of backup thermal generation.
- OSTI ID:
- 21223045
- Journal Information:
- Electricity Journal, Vol. 22, Issue 7; Other Information: Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved; ISSN 1040-6190
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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