Large balancing areas and dispersed renewable investment enhance grid flexibility in a renewable-dominant power system in China

Jiang Lin, Nikit Abhyankar, Gang He, Xu Liu and Shengfei Yin

Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series from Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley

Abstract: Renewable energy is poised to play a major role in achieving China's carbon neutrality goal by 2060; however, reliability and flexibility is a big concern of a renewable-dominant power system. Various strategies of enhancing flexibility are under discussion to ensure the reliability of such a system, but no detailed quantitative analysis has been reported yet in China. We combine the advantages of a capacity expansion model, SWITCH-China, with a production simulation model, PLEXOS, and analyze flexibility options under different scenarios of a renewable-dominant power system in China. We find that a larger balancing area offers direct flexibility benefits. Regional balancing could reduce the renewable curtailment rate by 5-7%, compared with a provincial balancing strategy. National balancing could further reduce the power cost by about 16%. However, retrofitting coal power plants for flexible operation would only improve the system flexibility marginally.

Keywords: Engineering; Electrical Engineering; Energy policy; Power structure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-02-01
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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