Search

Returning monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) to sustainable levels of abundance will require an array of contributors to protect and restore habitat over broad areas. Due to the diversity and scale of land managed by electric power companies across the monarch range, plus an additional 32 million hectares needed for new solar arrays by 2050 to meet renewable energy goals, the industry may have potential to contribute to monarch conservation. However, it is challenging to clearly understand an individual company's potential for monarch conservation because of the scale and distribution of their specific land assets (ranging from 4,800 to 240,000 hectares in this study alone), the complexity of monarch science, and the lack of a science-based approach for evaluating large land assets for monarch habitat. With monarchs potentially being protected under the United States Endangered Species Act in the future and thereby limiting land management approaches, there is interest from electric power companies to understand how their lands relate to monarchs. In collaboration with companies, we developed a GIS-based model to identify company landholdings that contain high-quality monarch habitat and applied the model to specific landholdings of eight power companies in the United States. We then facilitated discussions with company teams to balance conservation goals, corporate risk, and social opinion. This paper describes non-confidential results for developing a national GIS-based monarch habitat model and applying it to electric power companies who are considering monarch conservation while simultaneously transitioning to a new clean energy future. The model and applied experience may be useful for other organizations working across large landscapes to manage monarchs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Economics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Summary: Many electricity consumers around the world are billed electric peak load charges. In the United States, these demand charges can contribute up to 70% of a consumer's electricity bill. Research has shown that the financial impact of these charges to the consumers can be reduced by acting on the intelligence provided by peak electric load day (PELD) forecasts. Unfortunately, published research detailing PELDs forecasting methodologies for facilities adopting behind the meter renewable electricity generation (BTMREG) is non‐existent. This paper contributes: (a) a PELD forecasting methodology applicable to consumers with BTMREG. A case study demonstrates the methodology's ability to achieve 93% of the potential savings in kW, translating to demand charge reductions of approximately US$ 142 129 per year. (b) The first side‐by‐side performance comparisons of electric load and PELD forecasting models for scenarios with and without BTMREG. (c) The first PELD forecasting model savings comparison for scenarios with and without BTMREG. Experimental results suggest that counterintuitively, BTMREG adoption can translate into higher peak load savings for electricity consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surveys of the costs of inputs assigned to pollution abatement (Stated Costs) have been the principal method used to estimate pollution abatement costs. While surveys have been widely used, problems with these surveys may adversely affect their ability to accurately measure pollution abatement costs. In this paper, we propose a method that does not depend on surveys of input costs. Instead, a nonparametric cost function that models the joint production of good and bad outputs is used to identify the cost of inputs assigned to pollution abatement (Revealed Costs). The increased input costs when the bad output is not freely disposable compared to input costs when the bad output is freely disposable constitute our estimate of the revealed cost of pollution abatement. Our model is illustrated using data from coal-fired electric power plants in the United States for 2000–2005. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient electricity market operations and cost-effective electricity generations are fundamental to a low-carbon energy future. The Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) and Northeast Power Coordinating Council (NPCC) systems were built to provide efficient electrical grid simulation solutions for their respective U.S. regions. Data reuse for electricity economic studies remains a challenge due to the lack of credible and realistic economic data. This paper delivers a comprehensive dataset containing generator aggregations, generator costs, transmission limits, load distributions, and electricity prices for the WECC and NPCC systems based on real-world grid operation data at year 2020, including power plant geographic locations, generation profiles, regional power flow interchanges, and load distributions in both regions. The electricity price from the developed dataset is simulated based on the other items in the dataset, and we show that the variation of the simulated electricity price reasonably aligns with the real-world electricity price in both the WECC and NPCC regions. Overall, the developed dataset is of interest for various electricity market and economic studies, such as the economic dispatch and locational marginal price (LMP) analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes GCAM-USA v5.3_water_dispatch, an open-source model that represents key interactions across economic, energy, water, and land systems in a consistent global framework with subnational detail in the United States. GCAM-USA divides the world into 31 geopolitical regions outside the United States (US) and represents the US economy and energy systems in 51 state-level regions (50 states plus the District of Columbia). The model also includes 235 water basins and 384 land use regions, and 23 of each fall at least partially within the United States. GCAM-USA offers a level of process and temporal resolution rare for models of its class and scope, including detailed subnational representation of US water demands and supplies and sub-annual operations (day and night for each month) in the US electric power sector. GCAM-USA can be used to explore how changes in socioeconomic drivers, technological progress, or policy impact demands for (and production of) energy, water, and crops at a subnational level in the United States while maintaining consistency with broader national and international conditions. This paper describes GCAM-USA's structure, inputs, and outputs, with emphasis on new model features. Four illustrative scenarios encompassing varying socioeconomic and energy system futures are used to explore subnational changes in energy, water, and land use outcomes. We conclude with information about how public users can access the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPSs) are one of the most prevalent and impactful clean energy policies implemented by states in the United States. This paper investigates the regional spillover effect of RPS policies using a directed dyad panel dataset of renewable electricity generation in US states from 1991 to 2021. Regional spillover effect is measured in two ways: by considering the influence of an RPS enacted in neighboring states and in states in the same regional transmission organization or independent system operator region. We use dyadic fixed effects estimation and conclude that the neighboring state's RPS stringency score is a strong determinant of a state's total renewable electricity generation. For states without an RPS, the positive influence of an RPS in a neighboring state is larger when the non-RPS state has more abundant renewable energy resources than the neighboring RPS state. Our findings suggest that past RPS policy evaluation research using a confined within-state focus may have underestimated the holistic impact of an RPS, as the impacts of an RPS policy can extend beyond the enacting state's borders. Overall, this study contributes to an improved understanding of the holistic impact of state RPS policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the health tradeoffs associated with the historical expansion in coal-fired electricity generation in the United States. We combine newly digitized data on all major coal-fired power plants for the period 1938–1962 with two complementary difference-in-differences strategies. Coal-fired plants imposed large negative health externalities that were partially offset by the benefits of local electricity generation. The health impacts varied widely according to initial electricity access and evolved as the stock of generating capacity expanded over the sample period. These findings highlight the importance of accounting for both current and future payoffs when designing environmental regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1957 and 1990, nearly 100 nuclear reactors were constructed throughout the U.S., and nuclear power currently accounts for 20 percent of electricity production nationwide. Nuclear plants are often constructed in small communities for which they constitute a large source of employment and income. To date, 24 nuclear reactors have undergone decommissioning, and more are expected in the future, particularly as nuclear reactors age and face increasingly strict regulations. This paper examines the effects of nuclear decommissioning over time at the county-level on measures of employment, income, and population using difference-in-differences regression and propensity score matching. Panel data are obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau, and cover the years 1975-2014. The analysis finds that nuclear decommissioning is associated with positive and statistically significant increases in employment and per capita income over time. Results suggest that nuclear decommissioning may actually be a positive force in regional economic development, and concludes with limitations of the approach and implications for future research. As an emerging area of research, this paper is meant to build on previous work, as well as to provide a basis for further discussion and debate on the economic future of nuclear host communities and regional economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CO2 capture and storage (CCS) can be an important feature of a decarbonization strategy involving electricity generation. According to the recently revised Section 45Q tax credits, said credits will be provided for implementing CCS, which is motivating some United States (US) electricity generation companies to revisit their business strategies for CCS. This paper discusses alternative business models being considered by companies for undertaking CCS, including providing a 'template' for evaluating the cost‐effectiveness of CCS with Section 45Q tax credits and storage in saline reservoirs. Using stylized illustrative examples, the paper indicates how use of Section 45Q tax credits should be expected to change dispatch at an electricity generating unit. For situations similar to the examples, the paper suggests that Section 45Q tax credits may need to be modified to achieve its intended impact. Modifications can include extending the time period of tax credit availability beyond the current 12 years. In addition, continued R&D investments in CCS and specific support for first‐of‐a‐kind CCS demonstrations would be valuable complements for the deployment of the Section 45Q tax credit. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates changes in electricity generation costs caused by the introduction of market mechanisms to determine production in the United States. I use the staggered transition to markets from 1999 to 2012 to estimate the causal impact of liberalization using a differences-in-difference design on a comprehensive hourly panel of electricity demand, generators' costs, capacities, and output. I find that markets reduce production costs by 5 percent by reallocating production: gains from trade across service areas increase by 55 percent based on a 25 percent increase in traded electricity, and costs from using uneconomical units fall 16 percent. (JEL L51, L94, L98, Q41, Q48) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finding and securing employment is a huge challenge for those who have been released from prison. In this paper, we argue that carbon capture technology carries the unique potential to positively impact employment opportunities for those who are undergoing the reentry process. Notably, these careers exist nearly entirely in industries which already employ ex-felons. If carbon capture technology were implemented throughout the United States, our estimates suggest that ex-felons would be eligible for nearly 3.6 million careers. Many of these jobs would be created in industries which directly or indirectly support natural resource extraction, ethanol production, electricity generation, and iron, steel, and cement production. In addition to benefiting the economy, these careers would provide returning individuals with financial security and supportive, prosocial peer relationships. Accordingly, carbon capture carries the unique ability to promote environmental justice while simultaneously providing relief to a tremendously overburdened criminal justice system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small modular reactors (SMRs) provide a unique opportunity for future nuclear development with reduced financial risks, allowing the United States to meet growing energy demands through safe, reliable, clean air electricity generation while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the reliance on unstable fossil fuel prices. A nuclear power plant is comprised of several complex subsystems which utilize materials from other subsystems and their surroundings. The economic utility of resources, or thermoeconomics, is extremely difficult to analyze, particularly when trying to optimize resources and costs among individual subsystems and determine prices for products. Economics and thermodynamics cannot provide this information individually. Thermoeconomics, however, provides a method of coupling the quality of energy available based on exergy and the value of this available energy - "exergetic costs". For an SMR exergy analysis, both the physical and economic environments must be considered. The physical environment incorporates the energy, raw materials, and reference environment, where the reference environment refers to natural resources available without limit and without cost, such as air input to a boiler. The economic environment includes market influences and prices in addition to installation, operation, and maintenance costs required for production to occur. The exergetic cost or the required exergy for production may be determined by analyzing the physical environment alone. However, to optimize the system economics, this environment must be coupled with the economic environment. A balance exists between enhancing systems to improve efficiency and optimizing costs. Prior research into SMR thermodynamics has not detailed methods on improving exergetic costs for an SMR coupled with storage technologies and renewable energy such as wind or solar in a hybrid energy system. This process requires balancing technological efficiencies and economics to demonstrate financially competitive systems. This paper aims to explore the use of exergy analysis methods to estimate and optimize SMR resources and costs for individual subsystems, based on thermodynamic principles - resource utilization and efficiency. The paper will present background information on exergy theory; identify the core subsystems in an SMR plant coupled with storage systems in support of renewable energy and hydrogen production; perform a thermodynamic exergy analysis; determine the cost allocation among these subsystems; and calculate unit exergetic costs, unit exergoeconomic costs, and first and second law efficiencies. Exergetic and exergoeconomic costs ultimately determine how individual subsystems contribute to overall profitability and how efficiencies and consumption may be optimized to improve profitability, making SMRs more competitive with other generation technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wave energy is one of the most concentrated ocean renewable energy resources. Although wave energy has been studied extensively for more than four decades, there is no large commercial installation for wave energy production or a consensus framework on how to exploit this resource. Wave energy is a complex resource that directly depends on two meteorological parameters, which produced significant fluctuations of wave energy in both temporal and spatial criteria. This paper presents a new concept called Energy Event, to analyze meteorological data generated by WaveWatch III over 36 years in the U.S. to characterize and assess wave energy behavior using the peak-over-threshold methodology. This methodology used extreme statistics, segmented the wave energy with different thresholds, and assessed wave energy production on a temporal and spatial framework. Three areas were studied in this paper, including the Gulf of Mexico, the East and West U.S. Coasts. The results indicated that wave energy behaved as a two-state energy system with each state having independent characteristics. The main difference among the three studied areas was the constant baseline of wave power density, with the West Coast having the highest constant baseline and the Gulf of Mexico having the lowest baseline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given increased policies driving renewable electricity generation and insufficient local production of woody biomass, many countries are reliant upon the importation of wood pellets. Of current wood pellet exports, the vast majority originates from the Southeastern United States (US). In this paper we present results from a cradle-to-gate, attributional process life cycle assessment in which two production scenarios of wood pellets were modelled for the Southeastern US: one utilising roundwood from a silviculture operation and the other utilising sawmill residues. The system boundary includes all steps from harvesting of the wood biomass, through delivery of the finished wood pellets to a US port facility. For each of the impact categories assessed, wood pellets from sawmill residues resulted in higher values, ranging from 5% to 31%. In relation to Global Warming Potential, roundwood pellets resulted in a 13–21% lower value than pellets produced from sawmill residues, depending upon the allocation method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2013, around 1336 desalination plants in the United States (US) provided purified water mainly to municipalities, the industry sector and for power generation. In 2013 alone, ∼200 million m 3 of water were desalinated; the amount that could satisfy annual municipal water consumption of more than 1.5 million people in the US. Desalination has proven to be a reliable water supply source in many countries around the world, with the total global desalination capacity of ∼60 million m 3 /day in 2013. Desalination has been used to mitigate water scarcity and lessen the pressure on water resources. Currently, data and information about desalination are still limited, while extensive socio-economic analyses are missing. This paper presents an econometric model to fill this gap. It evaluates the impact of selected socio-economic variables on desalination development in the US in the time span 1970–2013. The results show that the GDP and population growth have significantly impacted the desalination sector over the analyzed time period. The insights into the economics of desalination provided with this paper can be used to further evaluate cost-effectiveness of desalination both in the US and in other countries around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal is the second-largest source for electricity generation in the United States. However, the burning of coal produces dangerous gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide and Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. One alternative to decrease these emissions is biomass co-firing. To establish biomass as a viable option, the optimization of the biomass supply chain (BSC) is essential. Although most of the research conducted has focused on optimization models, the purpose of this paper is to incorporate machine-learning (ML) algorithms into a stochastic Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model to select potential storage depot locations and improve the solution in two ways: by decreasing the total cost of the BSC and the computational burden. We consider the level of moisture and level of ash in the biomass from each parcel location, the average expected biomass yield, and the distance from each parcel to the closest power plant. The training labels (whether a potential depot location is beneficial or not) are obtained through the stochastic MILP model. Multiple ML algorithms are applied to a case study in the northeast area of the United States: Logistic Regression (LR), Decision Tree (DT), Random Forest (RF), and Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) Neural Network. After applying the hybrid methodology combining ML and optimization, it is found that the MLP outperforms the other algorithms in terms of selecting potential depots that decrease the total cost of the BSC and the computational burden of the stochastic MILP model. The LR and the DT also perform well in terms of decreasing total cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, recent advances in Ocean Nuclear Power Plants (ONPPs) are reviewed, including their general arrangement, design parameters, and safety features. The development of ONPP concepts have continued due to initiatives taking place in France, Russia, South Korea, and the United States. Russia's first floating nuclear power stations utilizing the PWR technology (KLT-40S) and the spar-type offshore floating nuclear power plant designed by a research group in United States are considered herein. The APR1400 and SMART mounted Gravity Based Structure (GBS)-type ONPPs proposed by a research group in South Korea are also considered. In addition, a submerged-type ONPP designed by DCNS of France is taken into account. Last, issues and challenges related to ONPPs are discussed and summarized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of demand response (DR) technologies and increasing electricity demand, dynamic pricing has been a popular topic in many countries. This paper evaluates various dynamic pricing programs in the U.S. and Europe, and provides insights into various aspects including risks and rewards, enabling technologies, lower-income groups and customer types surrounding programs such as Time-of-Use (TOU), Critical Peak Pricing (CPP), Peak Time Rebates (PTR) and Real Time Pricing (RTP). We conclude this paper with three main findings: (1) policy coordination in promoting dynamic pricing programs between federal and state regulatory agencies is very critical; (2) customer engagement is very important and can be enhanced via more accessible educational programs and policy adjustments; and (3) more investment in related R&D is required to construct a commonly accepted methodology for measuring the effectiveness of dynamic pricing programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates changes in fuel procurement practices by coal-and gas-fired power plants in the United States following state-level legislation that ended cost-of-service regulation of electricity generation. I find that deregulated plants substantially reduce the price paid for coal (but not gas) and tend to employ less capital-intensive sulfur abatement techniques relative to matched plants that were not subject to any regulatory change. Deregulation also led to a shift toward more productive coal mines. I show how these results lend support to theories of asymmetric information, capital bias, and regulatory capture as important sources of regulatory distortion. (JEL L51, L71, L94, L98, Q35, Q41, Q48) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable electricity generation technologies provide a more sustainable solution than the non-renewables. However, as a complete system, renewable energy generation systems have some overall environmental impacts on humankind, resources and ecosystems. This paper will address the environmental effects caused by different types of renewable plants through life-cycle assessment. A comparative study is done among solar PV, biomass, and pumped storage hydropower plants in the United States. Life-cycle impact analysis has been carried out by the Eco-indicator 99, TRACI (Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and other Environmental Impacts), CED (Cumulative Energy Demand), Ecopoints 97, RMF (Raw Material Flows) and IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) methods, using the SimaPro software. The impacts are considered in 10 mid-point impact categories and three end-point indicators. The results show that pumped storage hydropower plants have the highest impact on human health (7.74E-05/kWh) and the ecosystem (3.35E-06/kWh), whereas biomass plants have the maximum effect on resources (4.79E-07/kWh). Overall, the solar PV plants are found to be much more environment-friendly than other renewable electricity generation systems. These findings will guide investors in installing sustainable and clean power plants. • Comparative environmental impacts of solar-PV, biomass and pumped storage hydropower plants was investigated. • Impacts are assessed by a systematic LCA analysis using the ecoinvent database and SimaPro software. • Solar-PV plants are found least hazardous to environment than other renewable energy plants in the United States. • Findings will guide the investors in installing the best renewable power plant considering the environmental aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electricity and water systems in the Western US (WUS) are closely connected, with hydropower comprising 20% of total annual WUS generation, and electricity related to water comprising about 7% of total WUS electricity use. Because of these interdependencies, the threat of climate change to WUS resources will likely have compounding electricity impacts on the Western Interconnect grid. This study describes a WUS‐wide water system model with a particular emphasis on estimating climate impacts on hydropower generation and water‐related electricity use, which can be linked with a grid expansion model to support climate‐resilient electricity planning. The water system model combines climatically‐driven physical hydrology and management of both water supply and demand allocation, and is applied to an ensemble of 15 climate scenarios out to 2050. Model results show decreasing streamflow in key basins of the WUS under most scenarios. Annual water‐related electricity use increases up to 4%, and by up to 6% during the summer months, driven by growing agricultural demands met increasingly through a shift toward energy‐intensive groundwater to replace declining surface water. Total annual hydropower generation changes by +5% to −20% by mid‐century but declines in most scenarios, with decreases in summer generation by up to nearly −30%. Water‐related electricity use increases tend to coincide with hydropower generation declines, annually and seasonally, demonstrating the importance of concurrently evaluating the climate signal on both water‐for‐energy and energy‐for‐water to inform planning for grid reliability and decarbonization goals. Plain Language Summary: Electricity and water systems in the Western United States (WUS) have a strong dependency. Water fuels hydropower generation and electricity is used to pump, transport, treat, heat, and dispose of water. Climate change poses a serious threat to water availability in the WUS and is likely to also affect hydropower generation and electricity use related to water. This study develops a WUS water system model to evaluate the impact of a set of climate change scenarios on the dynamic interplay between water availability and demand and hydropower generation and electricity use by the water sector by 2050. We find that in many key basins, streamflow decreases under the climate scenarios. At the same time, reliance on groundwater increases to meet growing agricultural water demand. Hydropower generation shows decreases in most cases while energy use related to water increases. Because these hydropower generation declines tend to occur during periods when electricity demand for water grows, electricity grid planners in the Western Interconnect will benefit from this type of study by informing future grid buildouts that maintain reliability and decarbonization goals. Key Points: Interactions among hydro‐climate, hydropower, and water's energy use are critical for evaluating Western US (WUS) water‐energy climate risksUnder climate change, our WUS water model finds declining streamflows, growing agricultural demands, and increased groundwater useWith warming and drying, water‐related energy use grows while hydropower generation decreases under most climate scenarios by mid‐century [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In complex coupled natural-human systems (CNH), multitype networks link social, environmental, and economic systems with flows of matter, energy, information, and value. Embedded Resource Accounting (ERA) is a systems analysis framework that includes the indirect connections of a multitype CNH network. ERA is conditioned on perceived system boundaries, which may vary according to the accountant's point of view. Both direct and indirect impacts are implicit whenever two subnetworks interact in such a system; the ratio of two subnetworks' impacts is the embedded intensity. For trade in the services of water, this is understood as the indirect component of a water footprint, and as 'virtual water' trade. ERA is a generalization of input-output, footprint, and substance flow methods, and is a type of life cycle analysis. This paper presents results for the water and electrical energy system in the western U.S. This system is dominated by California, which outsources the majority of its water footprint of electrical energy. Electricity trade increases total water consumption for electricity production in the western U.S. by 15% and shifts water use to water-stressed Colorado River Basin States. A systemic underaccounting for water footprints occurs because state-level processes discount a portion of the water footprint occurring outside of the state boundary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the growth of wind power generation in the United States. As wind power has spread, states have used different methods for valuing wind farms for property taxation. Generation of electricity by wind takes two forms: in utility-grade generation, large turbines, usually in farms, are designed to produce electricity for the grid, and in distributed generation, smaller units are not connected to the grid but are designed to generate power for a business, manufacturing complex, agriculture, or local networks. Only utility-grade generation is considered here. The valuation methods used in the principal wind states are described. Also, a more detailed analysis of alternative methods of valuation is presented. Finally, specific issues for assessors to consider in valuing wind farms are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The economic viability of new energy technologies is held as a central tenet to their future deployment; conventional wisdom posits economically rational decision-makers will readily invest in proven low-risk and affordable technologies. But what happens when this is not true. This paper examines the non-financial barriers facing economically viable Combined Heat and Power (CHP) projects. CHP is a mature and lower carbon technology that efficiently uses waste heat from thermal electricity generation; CHP can also provide flexibility services to help integrate variable renewable resources. CHP is low risk and many industrialized countries, particularly those in colder climates in Northern Europe and Russia, generate as much as 50% of their electricity and heat needs from CHP, but United States deployment remains low and investment hurdle rates high. While lower U.S. energy costs make some projects un-economic, many economically-viable CHP projects are stalled or killed by non-financial barriers. To better understand why financially viable CHP projects are not getting built, developers, owners and operators, regulators, and other stakeholders of this technology were interviewed and three major barriers emerged a) the business model of the electrical utility b) negative subjective impressions and c) challenges in allocating the risks and benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As renewable electricity generation continues to increase in the United States (US), considerable effort goes into matching heterogeneous supply to demand at a subhour time-step. As a result, some electric providers offer incentive-based programs for residential consumers that aim to reduce electric demand during high-demand periods. There is little research into determinants of consumer response to incentive-based programs beyond typical sociodemographic characteristics. To add to this body of literature, this paper presents the findings of a dichotomous choice contingent valuation (CV) survey targeting US ratepayers' participation in a direct-load-control scheme utilizing a smart thermostat designed to reallocate consumer electricity demand on summer days when grid stress is high. Our results show approximately 50% of respondents are willing to participate at a median willingness-to-accept (WTA) figure of USD 9.50 (95% CI: 3.74, 15.25) per month that lasts for one summer (June through August)—or slightly less than USD 30 per annum. Participation is significantly affected by a respondent's attitudes and preferences surrounding various environmental and institutional perspectives, but not by sociodemographic characteristics. These findings suggest utilities designing direct-load-control programs may improve participation by designing incentives specific to customers' attitudes and preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decarbonization goals in the United States electricity sector are increasing the levels of renewable energy generation in the electricity supply system, and are driving increased attention to building electrification, which will increase the magnitude and shift the timing of the electricity system peak. These changes are motivating new approaches to coordinate building electricity demand with low-carbon renewable generation, elevating the importance of demand flexibility (DF) in buildings and the need to quantify the temporal impacts of DF. In this paper, we first characterize the hourly predictive accuracy of six commonly used baseline models in an application context of quantifying building-level load shift. Our analysis revealed insights such as hours of the day (afternoons), periods of the week (weekends), and seasons (summer) that were predicted with more accuracy than other time periods. In addition, the analysis showed tendencies toward overprediction or underprediction of load. Secondly, we provide the first published investigation of baseline erosion from repeated dispatch of building load shifting. We observed that as the baseline period is pushed back further from the prediction day, the distribution of errors across baseline model predictions increases, with notable inflection points near the three-week erosion point for two of the three models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scale and pace of energy infrastructure development required to achieve netzero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are unprecedented, yet our understanding of how to minimize its potential impacts on land and ocean use and natural resources is inadequate. Using high-resolution energy and land-use modeling, we developed spatially explicit scenarios for reaching an economy-wide net-zero GHG target in the western United States by 2050. We found that among net-zero policy cases that vary the rate of transportation and building electrification and use of fossil fuels, nuclear generation, and biomass, the "High Electrification" case, which utilizes electricity generation the most efficiently, had the lowest total land and ocean area requirements (84,000 to 105,000 km² vs. 88,100 to 158,000 km² across all other cases). Different levels of land and ocean use protections were applied to determine their effect on siting, environmental and social impacts, and energy costs. Meeting the net-zero target with stronger land and ocean use protections did not significantly alter the share of different energy generation technologies and only increased system costs by 3%, but decreased additional interstate transmission capacity by 20%. Yet, failure to avoid development in areas with high conservation value is likely to result in substantial habitat loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind-generated electricity is a growing renewable energy resource. Because wind results from the uneven heating (and resulting pressure gradients) of the Earth, future wind resources may be affected by anticipated climate change. Many studies have used global and regional climate models to predict trends in the future wind resource over the continental United States. While some of these studies identified regions that are expected to gain wind energy, their results often come with a high degree of uncertainty, and lack of agreement across different climate models. In this paper we focus on wind energy density as a measure of the available wind resource over the continental United States. We estimate the change in wind energy density from the period 1968–2000 to the period 2038–2070 by using output from four regional climate models from the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP). We find strong agreement across all 4 models that the wind energy resource is expected to increase in parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, and northern Texas – a region already in possession of both large scale generating capacity and political support for wind energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policies to reduce greenhouse gases associated with electricity generation have been a major focus of public policy in the United States, but their implications for achieving environmental justice among historically overburdened communities inappropriately remains a marginal issue. In this study we address research gaps in historical and current ambient air emissions burdens in environmental justice communities from power plants participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gases Initiative (RGGI), the country's first market-based power sector emissions reduction program. We find that in RGGI states the percentage of people of color that live within 0–6.2 miles from power plants is up to 23.5 percent higher than the percent of the white population that lives within those same distance bands, and the percentage of people living in poverty that live within 0–5 miles from power plants is up to 15.3 percent higher than the percent of the population not living in poverty within those same distance bands. More importantly, the transition from coal to natural gas underway before RGGI formally started resulted in large increases in both the number of electric-generating units burning natural gas and total net generation from natural gas in environmental justice communities hosting electric-generating units, compared to other communities. Our findings indicate that power sector carbon mitigation policies' focusing on aggregate emissions reductions have largely benefitted non-environmental justice communities and have not redressed the fundamental problem of disparities in pollutant burdens between EJ and non-EJ communities. These must be directly addressed in climate change and carbon emissions mitigation policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar photovoltaics (PV) are the fastest growing renewable energy technologies for clean, cheap, and sustainable electricity generation. To prepare for rapid scale‐up, the PV industry needs to project material requirements to build out all aspects of the supply chain appropriately and plan to handle large volumes of module waste. Impacts of deploying different material circularity strategies to reduce waste and conserve primary resources need to be quantified to inform sustainable material management. Here, we introduce the photovoltaic dynamic material flow analysis (PV DMFA) model based on PV electricity generation. The model quantifies material flows and stocks in the cradle‐to‐cradle life cycles of utility‐scale c‐Si PV systems in the United States through 2100. We present case studies for solar flat glass and aluminum frame materials under various scenarios to project the impacts of PV performance, reliability, and processing parameters, material circularity strategies, and module design shifts. In the absence of circularity measures, ~100 million MT of flat glass and ~12 million MT of aluminum would be needed for PV installations by 2100 to meet projected growth in domestic utility PV demand to nearly 1000 TWh in 2100. With optimistic but feasible improvements in efficiency, reliability, and circularity, material intensity and waste could be reduced by nearly 50%. Efficient module collection, minimally intrusive recycling, and careful scrap handling and cleaning could improve material circularity in the PV value chain. This model serves as a sustainability data support tool that may aid in the circular economy transition for PV systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a framework for pricing the climate resilience of an energy infrastructure project through assessing the value of its required debt and equity investments. Integrating climate scenarios into an asset valuation model provides useful and specific insights for risk management, but there is a lack of academic and market tools that effectively address this need. The critical barrier is that climate-related risks (physical and transition) are typically indirect variables in the cash flow calculation, and they should be computed based on the direct variables such as revenue, capital expenditures, operating expenses, and financing costs. The implementation of this framework shows how to delineate climate-related risks that are asset-specific and transforms them into financial risks. Using cash flow simulation and scenario analysis, it estimates an energy infrastructure asset's probability of default due to climate-related risks and the size and timing of the losses for any given default. To demonstrate the framework's application, we simulate the price climate-related risks of a utility-scale electricity generation facility powered by natural gas. • The analysis focuses on climate-related financial risk assessment of infrastructure assets. • An asset-level and forward-looking climate risk assessment framework is developed. • It tests single or combined climate risk scenarios on conventional financial metrics. • A case study on a natural gas power plant in the United States is demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electric transmission infrastructure is often undervalued in the United States. However, a recent surge of electrical blackouts due to extreme weather conditions and natural disasters has brought the United States' aging transmission infrastructure to the spotlight. Recent cyberattacks on critical energy infrastructure have also brought attention to the vulnerabilities in the U.S. electric infrastructure. Advancements such as the growth of electrification in the transportation sector and the integration of variable renewable energy critical to the decarbonization of the energy sector, further challenge the capacity of current electrical infrastructure. Addressing deficiencies within U.S. electric infrastructure requires the collaboration of many stakeholders including federal agencies, state governments, local communities, and electricity generation and distribution entities. To properly undertake the challenges to the United States transmission infrastructure, it is recommended that potential solutions are accurately modeled, that the FERC uses its rulemaking capacity to foster collaboration, and that the federal government creates a national transmission loan program to specifically fund nationally significant transmission projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any pathway to a net-zero-carbon energy system in the United States will require a staggering build-out of infrastructure for electricity generation and transmission, zero-carbon fuels, and carbon sequestration. To date, however, there has been hardly any conversation among policy analysts, let alone high-level policymakers, about how such a massive infrastructure initiative should be undertaken. We have abundant evidence that our existing system for electricity infrastructure expansion is slow, inefficient, and expensive. In a spring 2021 workshop, the Niskanen Center and the Clean Air Task Force convened a group of practitioners, advocates, and academics to consider how the nation can achieve such an unprecedented infrastructure build-out, using electricity transmission as a case study. This paper summarizes some key themes and policy ideas from that workshop. A central framing concept is that policy for transmission infrastructure is traditionally structured around the three "Ps": planning, permitting, and paying. One important step forward would be to incorporate two additional Ps in policy design: participation (to include the perspectives and needs of the full range of stakeholders, especially local communities) and process (to provide a standard framework to spur project development and investment with clear expectations and accountability mechanisms). There was also broad support for the idea that a national transmission plan is needed to establish a clear set of goals and metrics across the many entities involved in moving electricity. From this foundation (3+2 "Ps" and a national plan) we describe a range of policy elements, then present two sample policy models for consideration, one emphasizing private enterprise and the other public initiative. While the objectives of the two sample initiatives are consistent, such as addressing conflicts in siting and permitting, they differ in the extent of federal authority that would be invoked. The problem of marshaling political support was beyond the scope of our discussion but must inform future development of the policy framework. • Transmission development needs a fundamental rebalancing of authority. • Attention to the role of public initiative and private enterprise is crucial. • Any policy solution must address community participation and establish a repeatable process. • A national transmission plan is a minimum requirement for facing the decarbonization challenge. • A National Transmission Organization versus a strengthened and expedited role of private investment should be debated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The average effect of deregulatory policies on fuel prices at coal-fired power plants is strongly influenced by plants that were initially paying the highest prices for fuel. Primary sources document that these plants were locked into long-term, high-cost fuel contracts, and only secured market rates post-deregulation. While these plants' fuel costs were unusual, their response to deregulation was not: both coal- and gas-fired plants reduce fuel prices one-for-one with the amount they were initially paying above their neighbors' costs. Our understanding of deregulation is not improved by excluding those who stand to benefit most. (JEL L51, L71, L94, L98, Q35, Q41, Q48) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines entry into new generation supply in the United States. It finds that entry into new generation is typically small scale and accomplished by companies with below average market shares. The construction of new generation facilities is also strongly associated with generation retirements. This evidence suggests that in most of the United States there is little ability for long-term market power in electric generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Review of Policy Research is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model has been extensively used for wind energy applications, and current releases include a scheme that can be applied to examine the effects of wind turbine arrays on the atmospheric flow and electricity generation from wind turbines. Herein we present a high-resolution simulation using two different wind farm parameterizations: 1) the "Fitch" parameterization that is included in WRF releases and 2) the recently developed Explicit Wake Parameterization (EWP) scheme. We compare the schemes using a single yearlong simulation for a domain centered on the highest density of current turbine deployments in the contiguous United States (Iowa). Pairwise analyses are applied to diagnose the downstream wake effects and impact of wind turbine arrays on near-surface climate conditions. On average, use of the EWP scheme results in small-magnitude wake effects within wind farm arrays and faster recovery of full WT array wakes. This in turn leads to smaller impacts on near-surface climate variables and reduced array–array interactions, which at a systemwide scale lead to summertime capacity factors (i.e., the electrical power produced relative to nameplate installed capacity) that are 2%–3% higher than those from the more commonly applied Fitch parameterization. It is currently not possible to make recommendations with regard to which wind farm parameterization exhibits higher fidelity or to draw inferences with regard to whether the relative performance may vary with prevailing climate conditions and/or wind turbine deployment configuration. However, the sensitivities documented herein to the wind farm parameterization are of sufficient magnitude to potentially influence wind turbine array siting decisions. Thus, our research findings imply high value in undertaking combined long-term high-fidelity observational studies in support of model validation and verification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the deployment of wind and solar energy increases in the USA, energy storage (ES) will play an important role in future electric power grids to help manage the variability from high penetration levels of renewable generation, ES can provide promising power/energy demand to coordinate with renewables generation, as a virtual power plant (VPP). There is an industry need for the capability in power system studies to model ternary pumped storage hydropower (T-PSH), a pumped storage technology that offers increased system benefits. This study presents a comprehensive vendor-neutral dynamic model of T-PSH in GE's commercial software positive sequence load flow. A new governor model is developed with detailed gate valve modelling and a shared-penstock function. Specifically, this model is designed to simulate the seamless transition among three operation modes: generation mode, pumping mode, and hydraulic short-circuit mode. The developed T-PSH model has been tested and validated on a 10-bus test system. A comparison study of T-PSH to conventional pumped storage hydropower has also been conducted on the Western interconnection system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power systems for South and Central America based on 100% renewable energy (RE) in the year 2030 were calculated for the first time using an hourly resolved energy model. The region was subdivided into 15 sub-regions. Four different scenarios were considered: three according to different high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission grid development levels (region, country, area-wide) and one integrated scenario that considers water desalination and industrial gas demand supplied by synthetic natural gas via power-to-gas (PtG). RE is not only able to cover 1813 TWh of estimated electricity demand of the area in 2030 but also able to generate the electricity needed to fulfil 3.9 billion m3 of water desalination and 640 TWhLHV of synthetic natural gas demand. Existing hydro dams can be used as virtual batteries for solar and wind electricity storage, diminishing the role of storage technologies. The results for total levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) are decreased from 62 €/MWh for a highly decentralized to 56 €/MWh for a highly centralized grid scenario (currency value of the year 2015). For the integrated scenario, the levelized cost of gas (LCOG) and the levelized cost of water (LCOW) are 95 €/MWhLHV and 0.91 €/m3, respectively. A reduction of 8% in total cost and 5% in electricity generation was achieved when integrating desalination and power-to-gas into the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As of 2012, 29 states had enacted a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), while 37 states had at least one utility offering Green Power Purchasing (GPP) to their customers. The goal of both policies is to promote the adoption of clean, renewable energy. This article examines the influence of these polices on wind capacity across the United States from 1994–2012, a period of significant expansion of the wind generation market. The analysis focuses on wind because as compared with other modern renewable energy sources, wind is the only renewable energy source to make significant inroads into the U.S. electricity generation market. My findings indicate that while there have been significant increases in commercial scale wind generation capacity, neither RPS nor GPP programmes had a significant influence on within state wind capacity additions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the U.S., individual states enact Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPSs) for renewable electricity production with little coordination. Each state imposes restrictions on the amounts and locations of qualifying renewable generation. Using a co-optimization (transmission and generation) planning model, we quantify the long run economic benefits of allowing flexibility in the trading of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) among the U.S. states belonging to the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC).We characterize flexibility in terms of the amount and geographic eligibility of out-of-state RECs that can be used to meet a state's RPS goal. Although more trade would be expected to have economic benefits, neither the size of these benefits nor the effects of such trading on infrastructure investments, CO2 emissions and energy prices have been previously quantified. We find that up to 90% of the economic benefits are captured if approximately 25% of unbundled RECs are allowed to be acquired from out of state. Furthermore, increasing REC trading flexibility does not necessarily result in either higher transmission investment costs or a substantial impact on CO2 emissions. Finally, increasing REC trading flexibility decreases energy prices in some states and increases them elsewhere, while the WECC-wide average energy price decreases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the recent shale gas boom, the U.S. is expected to have very large natural gas resources. In this respect, the key question is would it be better to rely completely on free market resource allocations which would lead to large exports of natural gas or to limit natural gas exports so that more could be used in the U.S.. After accounting for the cost of liquefying the natural gas and shipping it to foreign markets, the current price difference leaves room for considerable profit to producers from exports. In addition, there is a large domestic demand for natural gas from various sectors such as electricity generation, industrial applications, and the transportation sector etc. A hybrid modeling approach has been carried out using our version of the well-known MARket ALlocation (MARKAL)-Macro model to keep bottom-up model richness with macro effects to incorporate price and gross domestic product (GDP) feedbacks. One of the conclusion of this study is that permitting higher natural gas export levels leads to a small reduction in GDP (0.04%-0.17%). Higher exports also increases U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and electricity prices (1.1%-7.2%). We also evaluate the impacts of natural gas exports in the presence of a Clean Energy Standard (CES) for electricity. In this case, the GDP impacts are similar, but the electricity and transport sector impacts are different. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]