IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v13y2020i8p1896-d345023.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of the Spanish Electricity: Past, Present and Future Projections

Author

Listed:
  • Guillermo San Miguel

    (Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, ETSII, Grupo de Agroenergética, C/José Gutiérrez Abascal, 2, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28006 Madrid, Spain)

  • María Cerrato

    (Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, ETSII, Grupo de Agroenergética, C/José Gutiérrez Abascal, 2, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28006 Madrid, Spain)

Abstract

This paper provides an investigation into the sustainability of the electrical system in Spain. The analysis covers historic inventories of power generation, installed capacity and technology mix since 1990 and also contemplates four alternative projections for 2030 and 2050. The sustainability is evaluated using eight indicators that provide objective information about the environmental (climate change, fossil depletion, ozone layer depletion, terrestrial acidification, human toxicity and photochemical smog), economic (levelized cost of electricity) and socio-economic (direct employment) performance of the system. The results show an increase in the magnitude of the environmental impacts between 1990 and 2008, due to a growing power demand triggered by economic expansion. After 2008, the environmental performance improves due to the economic recession and the penetration of renewable energies. Overall, the cost of power generation remains rather stable as rising expenses generated by renewables are compensated by a progressive reduction in the cost of fossil technologies. Direct employment generation has been strongly stimulated by the upsurge in renewables that has taken place in Spain after 2008. Regarding future scenarios, the results evidence that the most ambitious projections in terms of renewable penetration perform best in terms of environmental performance, employment generation and reduced costs (€/MWh). The significance of these benefits was particularly clear in the 2050 scenario. In the long term, the scenario considering higher fossil fuel contributions (ST) performed worst in all sustainability indicators.

Suggested Citation

  • Guillermo San Miguel & María Cerrato, 2020. "Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of the Spanish Electricity: Past, Present and Future Projections," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-20, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:8:p:1896-:d:345023
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/8/1896/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/8/1896/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. del Río, Pablo & Mir-Artigues, Pere, 2014. "Combinations of support instruments for renewable electricity in Europe: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 287-295.
    2. Atilgan, Burcin & Azapagic, Adisa, 2016. "An integrated life cycle sustainability assessment of electricity generation in Turkey," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 168-186.
    3. del Rio, Pablo & Gual, Miguel A., 2007. "An integrated assessment of the feed-in tariff system in Spain," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 994-1012, February.
    4. Atanu Sengupta & Sanjoy De, 2020. "Review of Literature," India Studies in Business and Economics, in: Assessing Performance of Banks in India Fifty Years After Nationalization, chapter 0, pages 15-30, Springer.
    5. Turconi, Roberto & Boldrin, Alessio & Astrup, Thomas, 2013. "Life cycle assessment (LCA) of electricity generation technologies: Overview, comparability and limitations," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 555-565.
    6. San Miguel, G. & Corona, B., 2018. "Economic viability of concentrated solar power under different regulatory frameworks in Spain," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 205-218.
    7. Bianco, Vincenzo & Driha, Oana M. & Sevilla-Jiménez, Martín, 2019. "Effects of renewables deployment in the Spanish electricity generation sector," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 72-81.
    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. Alessia Gargiulo & Maria Leonor Carvalho & Pierpaolo Girardi, 2020. "Life Cycle Assessment of Italian Electricity Scenarios to 2030," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-16, July.
    2. García, Antonio & Monsalve-Serrano, Javier & Lago Sari, Rafael & Tripathi, Shashwat, 2022. "Life cycle CO₂ footprint reduction comparison of hybrid and electric buses for bus transit networks," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    3. T.E.T Dantas & S.R Soares, 2022. "Systematic literature review on the application of life cycle sustainability assessment in the energy sector," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 1583-1615, February.
    4. Diankai Wang & Inna Gryshova & Anush Balian & Mykola Kyzym & Tetiana Salashenko & Viktoriia Khaustova & Olexandr Davidyuk, 2022. "Assessment of Power System Sustainability and Compromises between the Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-23, February.
    5. Jianxue Chai & Lihui Zhang & Meng Yang & Qingyun Nie & Lei Nie, 2020. "Investigation on the Coupling Coordination Relationship between Electric Power Green Development and Ecological Civilization Construction in China: A Case Study of Beijing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-29, October.

    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. Sergio Coronas & Jordi de la Hoz & Àlex Alonso & Helena Martín, 2022. "23 Years of Development of the Solar Power Generation Sector in Spain: A Comprehensive Review of the Period 1998–2020 from a Regulatory Perspective," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-53, February.
    2. Markéta Šerešová & Jiří Štefanica & Monika Vitvarová & Kristina Zakuciová & Petr Wolf & Vladimír Kočí, 2020. "Life Cycle Performance of Various Energy Sources Used in the Czech Republic," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-17, November.
    3. Song, Cuihong & Gardner, Kevin H. & Klein, Sharon J.W. & Souza, Simone Pereira & Mo, Weiwei, 2018. "Cradle-to-grave greenhouse gas emissions from dams in the United States of America," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 945-956.
    4. Hosseini, Seyed Mohsen & Kanagaraj, N. & Sadeghi, Shahrbanoo & Yousefi, Hossein, 2022. "Midpoint and endpoint impacts of electricity generation by renewable and nonrenewable technologies: A case study of Alberta, Canada," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 22-39.
    5. López Prol, Javier, 2018. "Regulation, profitability and diffusion of photovoltaic grid-connected systems: A comparative analysis of Germany and Spain," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 1170-1181.
    6. Maria Laura Parisi & Melanie Douziech & Lorenzo Tosti & Paula Pérez-López & Barbara Mendecka & Sergio Ulgiati & Daniele Fiaschi & Giampaolo Manfrida & Isabelle Blanc, 2020. "Definition of LCA Guidelines in the Geothermal Sector to Enhance Result Comparability," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-18, July.
    7. António A. Martins & Marta Simaria & Joaquim Barbosa & Ricardo Barbosa & Daniela T. Silva & Cristina S. Rocha & Teresa M. Mata & Nídia S. Caetano, 2018. "Life cycle assessment tool of electricity generation in Portugal," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 129-143, December.
    8. Cho, Hannah Hyunah & Strezov, Vladimir, 2021. "Comparative analysis of the environmental impacts of Australian thermal power stations using direct emission data and GIS integrated methods," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    9. Rafaella de Souza Henriques & Rodney Rezende Saldanha & Lineker Max Goulart Coelho, 2019. "An Air Pollutant Emission Analysis of Brazilian Electricity Production Projections and Other Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-19, July.
    10. Orfanos, Neoptolemos & Mitzelos, Dimitris & Sagani, Angeliki & Dedoussis, Vassilis, 2019. "Life-cycle environmental performance assessment of electricity generation and transmission systems in Greece," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1447-1462.
    11. Kazemi, Abolghasem & Moreno, Jovita & Iribarren, Diego, 2023. "Economic optimization and comparative environmental assessment of natural gas combined cycle power plants with CO2 capture," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    12. José María López-Sanz & Azucena Penelas-Leguía & Pablo Gutiérrez-Rodríguez & Pedro Cuesta-Valiño, 2021. "Sustainable Development and Consumer Behavior in Rural Tourism—The Importance of Image and Loyalty for Host Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-20, April.
    13. Marwa Hannouf & Getachew Assefa, 2018. "A Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment-Based Decision-Analysis Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-22, October.
    14. Moritz Bohland & Sebastian Schwenen, 2020. "Technology Policy and Market Structure: Evidence from the Power Sector," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1856, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    15. Kucukvar, Murat & Haider, Muhammad Ali & Onat, Nuri Cihat, 2017. "Exploring the material footprints of national electricity production scenarios until 2050: The case for Turkey and UK," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 251-263.
    16. Meng, Wenliang & Wang, Dongliang & Zhou, Huairong & Yang, Yong & Li, Hongwei & Liao, Zuwei & Yang, Siyu & Hong, Xiaodong & Li, Guixian, 2023. "Carbon dioxide from oxy-fuel coal-fired power plant integrated green ammonia for urea synthesis: Process modeling, system analysis, and techno-economic evaluation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).
    17. Cristina Blasi Casagran & Colleen Boland & Elena Sánchez-Montijano & Eva Vilà Sanchez, 2021. "The Role of Emerging Predictive IT Tools in Effective Migration Governance," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(4), pages 133-145.
    18. Nawaz Edoo & Robert T. F. Ah King, 2021. "Techno-Economic Analysis of Utility-Scale Solar Photovoltaic Plus Battery Power Plant," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-22, December.
    19. Zhang, Ruirui & Wang, Guiling & Shen, Xiaoxu & Wang, Jinfeng & Tan, Xianfeng & Feng, Shoutao & Hong, Jinglan, 2020. "Is geothermal heating environmentally superior than coal fired heating in China?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    20. Maria Maddalena Sirufo & Francesca De Pietro & Alessandra Catalogna & Lia Ginaldi & Massimo De Martinis, 2021. "The Microbiota-Bone-Allergy Interplay," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-14, December.

    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:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:8:p:1896-:d:345023. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.