Renewable Energy Cuts Emissions Even If Fossil Power Plants Have to Cycle More

[cprise]

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/renewable-energy-cuts-emissions-even-if-fossil-power-plants-have-to-cycle-more

[...]
But a new study released by the US Energy Department found that, in actuality, cycling power plants didn’t totally negate the impact of renewable energy. On the contrary, the study found “that the carbon emissions induced by more frequent cycling are negligible (<0.2%) compared with the carbon reductions achieved through the wind and solar power generation evaluated in the study.” Those carbon reductions were found to be as dramatic as 29 to 34 percent across the Western grid.

Still, cycling speeds up the pace at which equipment wears down, which adds cost to the fossil or nuclear power plant operators. However, the additional cycling required by more renewable energy only increases operating costs for the average fossil fuel power plant by 2 to 5 percent. On the other hand, the whole system would be somewhat relieved. “High levels of wind and solar power would reduce fossil fuel costs by approximately $7 billion per year across the West, while incurring cycling costs of $35 million to $157 million per year” the study stated. That’s $7 billion with a “b.”

Even in the golden, smog-inducing days without renewable energy, power plants have always been cycling up and down as power demand ebbs and flows. In order to see how much the additional cycling would cost power plant operators, and to test for environmental impact, the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory designed five hypothetical scenarios that imagined as much as a whole quarter of the power in the Western grid coming from renewables.

-more-

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/renewable-energy-cuts-emissions-even-if-fossil-power-plants-have-to-cycle-more