LEVELIZED COST OF RETURNED ENERGY (LCORE) ANALYSIS FOR COMPARING HYDROGEN END-USES BATTERY STORAGE ECONOMICS

摘要

As Renewable Portfolio Standards across the United States and around the world require increased amounts ofretail electricity sales to be supplied from renewable generating technologies, the installed capacity of renewablegeneration must increase. Since this new renewable generation capacity comes predominantly from wind andsolar, the amount of renewable generation at any given moment is controlled by time of day and weatherconditions, including seasonal variations in energy availability. The intermittency of wind and solar generationcan require increased quantities of flexible generation to provide high-speed ramping to keep the electric grid inbalance. Given that this flexible generation is typically fueled with natural gas, the air emissions avoided by windand solar generation can largely be offset by the increased emissions associated with the increased rampingrequirements of natural gas-fired generation. Beyond simple variability, the amount of renewable generation canat times substantially exceed the capacity of the electric grid to accommodate it. This results in curtailment ofrenewable generation or, in deregulated wholesale energy markets, negative wholesale electricity prices.Otherwise-curtailed renewable generation can be put to beneficial use through the development of flexible, nonemittingalternative technologies that can replace emitting natural gas-fired generation to a greater or lesserextent. Such alternive technologies not only reduce the need for curtailment of renewable generation, but becomeincreasingly important to maintain overall emissions reductions as renewable penetration increases.