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Short-run impact of electricity storage on CO2 emissions in power systems with high penetrations of wind power: a case-study of Ireland

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posted on 2016-10-21, 12:46 authored by Eoghan McKenna, John BartonJohn Barton, Murray ThomsonMurray Thomson
This article studies the impact on CO2 emissions of electrical storage systems in power systems with high penetrations of wind generation. Using the Irish All-Island power system as a case-study, data on the observed dispatch of each large generator for the years 2008 to 2012 was used to estimate a marginal emissions factor of 0.547 kgCO2/kWh. Selected storage operation scenarios were used to estimate storage emissions factors – the carbon emissions impact associated with each unit of storage energy used. The results show that carbon emissions increase in the short-run for all storage technologies when consistently operated in ‘peak shaving and trough filling’ modes, and indicate that this should also be true for the GB and US power systems. Carbon emissions increase when storage is operated in ‘wind balancing’ mode, but reduce when storage is operated to reduce wind power curtailment, as in this case wind power operates on the margin. For power systems where wind is curtailed to maintain system stability, the results show that energy storage technologies that provide synthetic inertia achieve considerably greater carbon reductions. The results highlight a tension for policy makers and investors in storage, as scenarios based on the operation of storage for economic gains increase emissions, while those that decrease emissions are unlikely to be economically favourable. While some scenarios indicate storage increases emissions in the short-run, these should be considered alongside long-run assessments, which indicate that energy storage is essential to the secure operation of a fossil fuel-free grid.

Funding

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK, within the Realising Transition Pathways project (EP/K005316/1) and the Integrated, Market-fit and Affordable Grid-Scale Energy Storage (IMAGES) Project (EP/K002228/1), and by the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, within the Oxford Martin Programme on Integrating Renewable Energy.

History

School

  • Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering

Research Unit

  • Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology (CREST)

Published in

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part A: Journal of Power and Energy

Citation

MCKENNA, E., BARTON, J.P. and THOMSON, M., 2017. Short-run impact of electricity storage on CO2 emissions in power systems with high penetrations of wind power: a case-study of Ireland. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part A: Journal of Power and Energy, 231(6), pp: 590-603.

Publisher

SAGE © IMechE

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Acceptance date

2016-08-25

Publication date

2017

Notes

This is an Open Access Article. It is published by SAGE under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

ISSN

0957-6509

eISSN

2041-2967

Language

  • en

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