Nuclear-Renewable Energy Systems Secondary Product Market Analysis Study
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
In order to properly create a program surrounding the development of any technological concept it is necessary to fully understand the market in which it is being developed. In the case of Integrated Nuclear-Renewable Hybrid Energy Systems (HES), there are two economic markets in which it must be able to participate in: the electricity market and the secondary product market associated with the specific system. The purpose of the present report is to characterize the secondary product market in the U.S. and to provide recommendations for further developing the HES program. While HESs have been discussed in depth in many other reports, it is helpful to discuss them briefly in the present work [REF]. The concept of the HES can be deduced to a system, featuring a combination of a nuclear power plant, a renewable energy source, and an industrial manufacturing plant . The system is designed in a fashion that allows it either to produce electricity or to manufacture a secondary product as needed. The primary benefit of this concept lies in its ability to maximize economic performance of the integrated system and to manufacture products in a carbon-free manner. A secondary benefit is the enhanced supply-side flexibility gained by allowing the HES to economically provide grid services. A key tenant to nuclear power plant economics in today’s electricity market is their ability to operate at a very high capacity factor. Unfortunately, in regions with a high penetration of renewable energy, the carbon free energy produced by nuclear power may not be needed at all times. This forces the nuclear power plant to find a user for its excess capacity. This may include paying the electric grid to find a user, releasing energy to the environment by ‘dumping steam’, or reducing power. If the plant is unable to economically or safely do any of these actions, the plant is at risk of being shutdown. In order to allow for nuclear power plants to continue to contribute carbon free electricity to the grid in a future with high renewable energy penetration, HESs allow for excess capacity to be diverted to a chemical process. If the chemical products sold on the market replace those sold previously – which would be the case if a currently operating manufacturing plant was modified to be a HES component – then the products would now be produced with reduced emission of carbon and other greenhouse gases. There are several key economic barriers that must be surmounted for HESs to be developed. The two primary barriers are the increased capital cost associated with coupling and controlling the HES components and the decreased utilization of the manufacturing plant capital due to intermittent energy delivery . Because of this, manufacturing plants that are less complex and have smaller non-variable operations and capital costs may be more attractive for integration. A secondary economic barrier for the HES is the market availability for its products. The system must operate a region where there is either an intermittent demand for its electricity, an intermittent demand for its secondary product, or both. In a region with an intermittent demand, product prices should shift accordingly, making it less attractive to produce one of the products. The HES then can shift production in order to maximize profit. Without an intermittent demand for at least one of its products, there would be little need for it to expend the extra capital required for integration as an HES.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC07-05ID14517
- OSTI ID:
- 1364095
- Report Number(s):
- INL/EXT-15-35446; TRN: US1701936
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Evaluation of Hydrogen Production Feasibility for a Light Water Reactor in the Midwest
Case Study: Hybrid Carbon Conversion Using Low-Carbon Energy Sources in Coal-Producing States