IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v44y2012icp301-311.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Decarbonizing the electric sector: Combining renewable and nuclear energy using thermal storage

Author

Listed:
  • Denholm, Paul
  • King, Jeffrey C.
  • Kutcher, Charles F.
  • Wilson, Paul P.H.

Abstract

Both renewable and nuclear energy can provide significant contributions to decarbonizing the electric sector. However, a grid employing large amounts of wind and solar energy requires the balance of the system to be highly flexible to respond to the increased variability of the net load. This makes deployment of conventional nuclear power challenging both due to the technical challenges of plant cycling and economic limits of reduced capacity factor. In the United States nuclear power plants generally provide constant, base load power and are most economic when operated at constant power levels. Operating nuclear power plants in load-following modes decreases the plants' annual energy output and increases the levelized cost of energy, decreasing economic competitiveness.

Suggested Citation

  • Denholm, Paul & King, Jeffrey C. & Kutcher, Charles F. & Wilson, Paul P.H., 2012. "Decarbonizing the electric sector: Combining renewable and nuclear energy using thermal storage," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 301-311.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:44:y:2012:i:c:p:301-311
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2012.01.055
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030142151200081X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2012.01.055?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Medrano, Marc & Gil, Antoni & Martorell, Ingrid & Potau, Xavi & Cabeza, Luisa F., 2010. "State of the art on high-temperature thermal energy storage for power generation. Part 2--Case studies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 56-72, January.
    2. Kearney, D. & Kelly, B. & Herrmann, U. & Cable, R. & Pacheco, J. & Mahoney, R. & Price, H. & Blake, D. & Nava, P. & Potrovitza, N., 2004. "Engineering aspects of a molten salt heat transfer fluid in a trough solar field," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 861-870.
    3. Denholm, Paul & Margolis, Robert M., 2008. "Land-use requirements and the per-capita solar footprint for photovoltaic generation in the United States," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 3531-3543, September.
    4. Ibrahim, H. & Ilinca, A. & Perron, J., 2008. "Energy storage systems--Characteristics and comparisons," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 12(5), pages 1221-1250, June.
    5. Denholm, Paul & Hand, Maureen, 2011. "Grid flexibility and storage required to achieve very high penetration of variable renewable electricity," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1817-1830, March.
    6. Gil, Antoni & Medrano, Marc & Martorell, Ingrid & Lázaro, Ana & Dolado, Pablo & Zalba, Belén & Cabeza, Luisa F., 2010. "State of the art on high temperature thermal energy storage for power generation. Part 1--Concepts, materials and modellization," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 31-55, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Khan, Agha Salman M. & Verzijlbergh, Remco A. & Sakinci, Ozgur Can & De Vries, Laurens J., 2018. "How do demand response and electrical energy storage affect (the need for) a capacity market?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 39-62.
    2. Gallo, A.B. & Simões-Moreira, J.R. & Costa, H.K.M. & Santos, M.M. & Moutinho dos Santos, E., 2016. "Energy storage in the energy transition context: A technology review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 800-822.
    3. Cárdenas, Bruno & Ibanez, Roderaid & Rouse, James & Swinfen-Styles, Lawrie & Garvey, Seamus, 2023. "The effect of a nuclear baseload in a zero-carbon electricity system: An analysis for the UK," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 256-272.
    4. Ma, Jianli & Li, Qi & Kühn, Michael & Nakaten, Natalie, 2018. "Power-to-gas based subsurface energy storage: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 478-496.
    5. Garvey, S.D. & Eames, P.C. & Wang, J.H. & Pimm, A.J. & Waterson, M. & MacKay, R.S. & Giulietti, M. & Flatley, L.C. & Thomson, M. & Barton, J. & Evans, D.J. & Busby, J. & Garvey, J.E., 2015. "On generation-integrated energy storage," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 544-551.
    6. Michał Jurczyk & Tomasz Spietz & Agata Czardybon & Szymon Dobras & Karina Ignasiak & Łukasz Bartela & Wojciech Uchman & Jakub Ochmann, 2024. "Review of Thermal Energy Storage Materials for Application in Large-Scale Integrated Energy Systems—Methodology for Matching Heat Storage Solutions for Given Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-28, July.
    7. Alva, Guruprasad & Lin, Yaxue & Fang, Guiyin, 2018. "An overview of thermal energy storage systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 341-378.
    8. Ghaib, Karim & Ben-Fares, Fatima-Zahrae, 2018. "Power-to-Methane: A state-of-the-art review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 433-446.
    9. Lawrie Swinfen-Styles & Seamus D. Garvey & Donald Giddings & Bruno Cárdenas & James P. Rouse, 2022. "Analysis of a Wind-Driven Air Compression System Utilising Underwater Compressed Air Energy Storage," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-28, March.
    10. Jafari, Mehdi & Botterud, Audun & Sakti, Apurba, 2022. "Decarbonizing power systems: A critical review of the role of energy storage," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    11. Rämä, Miika & Leurent, Martin & Devezeaux de Lavergne, Jean-Guy, 2020. "Flexible nuclear co-generation plant combined with district heating and a large-scale heat storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    12. Efstathios E. Michaelides, 2021. "Thermodynamics, Energy Dissipation, and Figures of Merit of Energy Storage Systems—A Critical Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-41, September.
    13. Gerkšič, Samo & Vrančić, Damir & Čalič, Dušan & Žerovnik, Gašper & Trkov, Andrej & Kromar, Marjan & Snoj, Luka, 2023. "A perspective of using nuclear power as a dispatchable power source for covering the daily fluctuations of solar power," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    14. Reichenberg, Lina & Hedenus, Fredrik & Odenberger, Mikael & Johnsson, Filip, 2018. "Tailoring large-scale electricity production from variable renewable energy sources to accommodate baseload generation in europe," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 129(PA), pages 334-346.
    15. Bohdanowicz, Zbigniew & Łopaciuk-Gonczaryk, Beata & Gajda, Paweł & Rajewski, Adam, 2023. "Support for nuclear power and proenvironmental attitudes: The cases of Germany and Poland," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    16. Zakeri, Behnam & Syri, Sanna, 2015. "Electrical energy storage systems: A comparative life cycle cost analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 569-596.
    17. Kilinc-Ata, Nurcan & Proskuryakova, Liliana N., 2023. "Empirical analysis of the Russian power industry's transition to sustainability," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    18. Idel, Robert, 2022. "Levelized Full System Costs of Electricity," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    19. Pfenninger, Stefan & Keirstead, James, 2015. "Comparing concentrating solar and nuclear power as baseload providers using the example of South Africa," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 303-314.
    20. Juan Ignacio Ibañez & Alexander Freier, 2023. "Bitcoin’s Carbon Footprint Revisited: Proof of Work Mining for Renewable Energy Expansion," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-21, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arteconi, A. & Hewitt, N.J. & Polonara, F., 2012. "State of the art of thermal storage for demand-side management," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 371-389.
    2. Fernandes, D. & Pitié, F. & Cáceres, G. & Baeyens, J., 2012. "Thermal energy storage: “How previous findings determine current research priorities”," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 246-257.
    3. Bravo, Ruben & Ortiz, Carlos & Chacartegui, Ricardo & Friedrich, Daniel, 2021. "Multi-objective optimisation and guidelines for the design of dispatchable hybrid solar power plants with thermochemical energy storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(PB).
    4. Jockenhöfer, Henning & Steinmann, Wolf-Dieter & Bauer, Dan, 2018. "Detailed numerical investigation of a pumped thermal energy storage with low temperature heat integration," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 665-676.
    5. Zhang, H.L. & Baeyens, J. & Degrève, J. & Cáceres, G. & Segal, R. & Pitié, F., 2014. "Latent heat storage with tubular-encapsulated phase change materials (PCMs)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 66-72.
    6. Lizarraga-Garcia, Enrique & Mitsos, Alexander, 2014. "Effect of heat transfer structures on thermoeconomic performance of solid thermal storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 896-909.
    7. González-Roubaud, Edouard & Pérez-Osorio, David & Prieto, Cristina, 2017. "Review of commercial thermal energy storage in concentrated solar power plants: Steam vs. molten salts," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 133-148.
    8. Chacartegui, R. & Alovisio, A. & Ortiz, C. & Valverde, J.M. & Verda, V. & Becerra, J.A., 2016. "Thermochemical energy storage of concentrated solar power by integration of the calcium looping process and a CO2 power cycle," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 589-605.
    9. Wang, Letian & Yang, Zhen & Duan, Yuanyuan, 2015. "Influence of flow distribution on the thermal performance of dual-media thermocline energy storage systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 283-292.
    10. Corgnale, Claudio & Hardy, Bruce & Motyka, Theodore & Zidan, Ragaiy & Teprovich, Joseph & Peters, Brent, 2014. "Screening analysis of metal hydride based thermal energy storage systems for concentrating solar power plants," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 821-833.
    11. Tiskatine, R. & Eddemani, A. & Gourdo, L. & Abnay, B. & Ihlal, A. & Aharoune, A. & Bouirden, L., 2016. "Experimental evaluation of thermo-mechanical performances of candidate rocks for use in high temperature thermal storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 243-255.
    12. Ortiz, C. & Valverde, J.M. & Chacartegui, R. & Perez-Maqueda, L.A. & Giménez, P., 2019. "The Calcium-Looping (CaCO3/CaO) process for thermochemical energy storage in Concentrating Solar Power plants," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1-1.
    13. Fang, Yi & Paul, Manosh C. & Varjani, Sunita & Li, Xian & Park, Young-Kwon & You, Siming, 2021. "Concentrated solar thermochemical gasification of biomass: Principles, applications, and development," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    14. Bhagat, Kunal & Saha, Sandip K., 2016. "Numerical analysis of latent heat thermal energy storage using encapsulated phase change material for solar thermal power plant," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 323-336.
    15. Steinmann, Wolf-Dieter, 2017. "Thermo-mechanical concepts for bulk energy storage," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 205-219.
    16. He, Wei & Wang, Jihong, 2018. "Optimal selection of air expansion machine in Compressed Air Energy Storage: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 77-95.
    17. Gil, Antoni & Barreneche, Camila & Moreno, Pere & Solé, Cristian & Inés Fernández, A. & Cabeza, Luisa F., 2013. "Thermal behaviour of d-mannitol when used as PCM: Comparison of results obtained by DSC and in a thermal energy storage unit at pilot plant scale," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 1107-1113.
    18. Fukahori, Ryo & Nomura, Takahiro & Zhu, Chunyu & Sheng, Nan & Okinaka, Noriyuki & Akiyama, Tomohiro, 2016. "Macro-encapsulation of metallic phase change material using cylindrical-type ceramic containers for high-temperature thermal energy storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 324-328.
    19. Bruch, A. & Molina, S. & Esence, T. & Fourmigué, J.F. & Couturier, R., 2017. "Experimental investigation of cycling behaviour of pilot-scale thermal oil packed-bed thermal storage system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 277-285.
    20. Usaola, Julio, 2012. "Participation of CSP plants in the reserve markets: A new challenge for regulators," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 562-571.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:44:y:2012:i:c:p:301-311. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.