IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v17y2024i19p4809-d1485879.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cost–Benefit Analysis for Flexibility in Hydrothermal Power Systems

Author

Listed:
  • Gabriel de Azevedo Cavados

    (Energy Planning Program, Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute for Graduate Studies and Engineering Research, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (PPE/COPPE-UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro 21941-914, Brazil)

  • Amaro Olimpio Pereira

    (Energy Planning Program, Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute for Graduate Studies and Engineering Research, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (PPE/COPPE-UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro 21941-914, Brazil)

Abstract

The world is experiencing an energy transition, migrating from fossil fuels to renewables, which are usually intermittent and, therefore, require flexibility to keep the power system reliable. Although system flexibility is a well-known theme of research, the question “What is a fair cost for flexibility?” remains to be answered. The present paper proposes a metric to estimate the value of a flexible resource to a power system. This metric is especially important in hydroelectric systems, where the flexibility of the hydro portfolio is uncertain and subject to seasonal changes and other considerations such as agricultural use. The valuation of a flexible resource by its cost–benefit is necessary since its installation generates operational savings to the entire system. A combined project cost and system overall savings is proposed to assess the net cost of a flexible resource. The net cost of flexibility can be used as a metric to rank flexibility candidates in systems with large amounts of renewable energy. A simplified case study of the Brazilian energy system is presented, and the flexibility solutions are evaluated according to the new metric. Results show how different technologies impact the system overall costs and the importance of analyzing system needs (both short and medium terms) when planning the expansion of flexibility in hydro systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabriel de Azevedo Cavados & Amaro Olimpio Pereira, 2024. "Cost–Benefit Analysis for Flexibility in Hydrothermal Power Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-18, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:19:p:4809-:d:1485879
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/19/4809/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/19/4809/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heggarty, Thomas & Bourmaud, Jean-Yves & Girard, Robin & Kariniotakis, Georges, 2020. "Quantifying power system flexibility provision," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    2. Zhao, Ziwen & Ding, Xinjun & Behrens, Paul & Li, Jianling & He, Mengjiao & Gao, Yuanqiang & Liu, Gongcheng & Xu, Beibei & Chen, Diyi, 2023. "The importance of flexible hydropower in providing electricity stability during China’s coal phase-out," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 336(C).
    3. Lin, Boqiang & Liu, Zhiwei, 2024. "Assessment of China's flexible power investment value in the emission trading system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 359(C).
    4. Huber, Matthias & Dimkova, Desislava & Hamacher, Thomas, 2014. "Integration of wind and solar power in Europe: Assessment of flexibility requirements," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 236-246.
    5. Brand, Bernhard & Boudghene Stambouli, Amine & Zejli, Driss, 2012. "The value of dispatchability of CSP plants in the electricity systems of Morocco and Algeria," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 321-331.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Heggarty, Thomas & Bourmaud, Jean-Yves & Girard, Robin & Kariniotakis, Georges, 2024. "Assessing the relative impacts of maximum investment rate and temporal detail in capacity expansion models applied to power systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    2. Yamujala, Sumanth & Kushwaha, Priyanka & Jain, Anjali & Bhakar, Rohit & Wu, Jianzhong & Mathur, Jyotirmay, 2021. "A stochastic multi-interval scheduling framework to quantify operational flexibility in low carbon power systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 304(C).
    3. Thomas Heggarty & Jean-Yves Bourmaud & Robin Girard & Georges Kariniotakis, 2024. "Assessing the relative impacts of maximum investment rate and temporal detail in capacity expansion models applied to power systems," Post-Print hal-04383397, HAL.
    4. Keon Baek & Sehyun Kim & Eunjung Lee & Yongjun Cho & Jinho Kim, 2021. "Data-Driven Evaluation for Demand Flexibility of Segmented Electric Vehicle Chargers in the Korean Residential Sector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-10, February.
    5. Morim, Joao & Cartwright, Nick & Hemer, Mark & Etemad-Shahidi, Amir & Strauss, Darrell, 2019. "Inter- and intra-annual variability of potential power production from wave energy converters," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 1224-1241.
    6. Guerra, K. & Haro, P. & Gutiérrez, R.E. & Gómez-Barea, A., 2022. "Facing the high share of variable renewable energy in the power system: Flexibility and stability requirements," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 310(C).
    7. Christina Carty & Oscar Claveria, 2022. "“The nexus between variable renewable energy, economy and climate: Evidence from European countries by means of exploratory graphical analysis”," AQR Working Papers 202205, University of Barcelona, Regional Quantitative Analysis Group, revised May 2022.
    8. Behnam Zakeri & Samuli Rinne & Sanna Syri, 2015. "Wind Integration into Energy Systems with a High Share of Nuclear Power—What Are the Compromises?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-35, March.
    9. Hayes, Liam & Stocks, Matthew & Blakers, Andrew, 2021. "Accurate long-term power generation model for offshore wind farms in Europe using ERA5 reanalysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    10. Dunguo Mou, 2018. "Wind Power Development and Energy Storage under China’s Electricity Market Reform—A Case Study of Fujian Province," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-20, January.
    11. Hoz, Jordi de la & Martín, Helena & Montalà, Montserrat & Matas, José & Guzman, Ramon, 2018. "Assessing the 2014 retroactive regulatory framework applied to the concentrating solar power systems in Spain," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1377-1399.
    12. Brunner, Christoph & Deac, Gerda & Braun, Sebastian & Zöphel, Christoph, 2020. "The future need for flexibility and the impact of fluctuating renewable power generation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 1314-1324.
    13. Felix Garcia-Torres & Ascension Zafra-Cabeza & Carlos Silva & Stephane Grieu & Tejaswinee Darure & Ana Estanqueiro, 2021. "Model Predictive Control for Microgrid Functionalities: Review and Future Challenges," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-26, February.
    14. Deng, Xu & Lv, Tao & Meng, Xiangyun & Li, Cong & Hou, Xiaoran & Xu, Jie & Wang, Yinhao & Liu, Feng, 2024. "Assessing the carbon emission reduction effect of flexibility option for integrating variable renewable energy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    15. Arjuna Nebel & Christine Krüger & Tomke Janßen & Mathieu Saurat & Sebastian Kiefer & Karin Arnold, 2020. "Comparison of the Effects of Industrial Demand Side Management and Other Flexibilities on the Performance of the Energy System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-20, August.
    16. Min, C.G. & Park, J.K. & Hur, D. & Kim, M.K., 2016. "A risk evaluation method for ramping capability shortage in power systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1316-1324.
    17. Mujjuni, F. & Betts, T. & To, L.S. & Blanchard, R.E., 2021. "Resilience a means to development: A resilience assessment framework and a catalogue of indicators," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    18. Prasad, Abhnil A. & Taylor, Robert A. & Kay, Merlinde, 2017. "Assessment of solar and wind resource synergy in Australia," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 354-367.
    19. Kousksou, T. & Allouhi, A. & Belattar, M. & Jamil, A. & El Rhafiki, T. & Arid, A. & Zeraouli, Y., 2015. "Renewable energy potential and national policy directions for sustainable development in Morocco," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 46-57.
    20. Iva Ridjan Skov & Noémi Schneider & Gerald Schweiger & Josef-Peter Schöggl & Alfred Posch, 2021. "Power-to-X in Denmark: An Analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-14, February.

    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:17:y:2024:i:19:p:4809-:d:1485879. 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.