IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v132y2017icp171-185.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optimal management of flexible nuclear power plants in a decarbonising competitive electricity market: The French case

Author

Listed:
  • Lykidi, Maria
  • Gourdel, Pascal

Abstract

The road towards the decarbonization of electricity leads to high deployment of low-carbon power sources including intermittent energy sources. In this context, flexible nuclear power plants could play a significant role because they do not produce CO2 emissions and under certain conditions flexible operation is necessary to ensure the stability of the electricity grid. Flexible nuclear reactors have the ability to load-follow the predicted fluctuations in demand. However, high fixed costs of nuclear production, tighter regulations since the Fukushima accident and the extensive participation of renewable sources in the energy mix challenge the economic profitability of nuclear production. Consequently, a question that arises is how nuclear power producers can manage flexible nuclear production in order to maximize their profits. We proved that optimal production behaviour is not characterized by constant nuclear production unless further investments in thermal capacity are realized. On the contrary, both nuclear and thermal production are flexible at the optimum level.

Suggested Citation

  • Lykidi, Maria & Gourdel, Pascal, 2017. "Optimal management of flexible nuclear power plants in a decarbonising competitive electricity market: The French case," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 171-185.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:132:y:2017:i:c:p:171-185
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2017.05.065
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544217308216
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2017.05.065?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. Yaari, Menahem E, 1987. "The Dual Theory of Choice under Risk," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(1), pages 95-115, January.
    2. Pascal Gourdel & Maria Lykidi, 2014. "The optimal short-term management of flexible nuclear plants in a competitive electricity system as a case of competition with reservoir," Post-Print halshs-01053474, HAL.
    3. Lauren Pouret & William J. NUTTALL, 2007. "Can Nuclear Power be Flexible?," Working Papers EPRG 0710, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    4. Pascal Gourdel & Maria Lykidi, 2014. "The optimal short-term management of flexible nuclear plants in a competitive electricity system as a case of competition with reservoir," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 14057, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    5. Soledad Arellano, 2004. "Market Power in Mixed Hydro-Thermal Electric," Documentos de Trabajo 187, Centro de Economía Aplicada, Universidad de Chile.
    6. M. Soledad Arellano, 2004. "Market Power in Mixed Hydro-Thermal Electric Systems," Econometric Society 2004 Latin American Meetings 211, Econometric Society.
    7. Lykidi, Maria & Gourdel, Pascal, 2015. "How to manage flexible nuclear power plants in a deregulated electricity market from the point of view of social welfare?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 167-180.
    8. Mas-Colell, Andreu & Whinston, Michael D. & Green, Jerry R., 1995. "Microeconomic Theory," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195102680, Decembrie.
    9. Ventosa, Mariano & Baillo, Alvaro & Ramos, Andres & Rivier, Michel, 2005. "Electricity market modeling trends," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 897-913, May.
    10. Pascal Gourdel & Maria Lykidi, 2015. "How to manage flexible nuclear power plants in a deregulated electricity market from the point of view of social welfare?," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) hal-01477134, HAL.
    11. Pascal Gourdel & Maria Lykidi, 2015. "How to manage flexible nuclear power plants in a deregulated electricity market from the point of view of social welfare?," Post-Print hal-01477134, HAL.
    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. Dong, Zhe & Li, Bowen & Li, Junyi & Guo, Zhiwu & Huang, Xiaojin & Zhang, Yajun & Zhang, Zuoyi, 2021. "Flexible control of nuclear cogeneration plants for balancing intermittent renewables," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    2. Rinne, Sonja, 2018. "Radioinactive: Are nuclear power plant outages in France contagious to the German electricity price?," CIW Discussion Papers 3/2018, University of Münster, Center for Interdisciplinary Economics (CIW).
    3. Zhe Dong & Miao Liu & Di Jiang & Xiaojin Huang & Yajun Zhang & Zuoyi Zhang, 2018. "Automatic Generation Control of Nuclear Heating Reactor Power Plants," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-18, October.
    4. Cany, C. & Mansilla, C. & Mathonnière, G. & da Costa, P., 2018. "Nuclear contribution to the penetration of variable renewable energy sources in a French decarbonised power mix," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 544-555.
    5. Dong, Zhe & Liu, Miao & Zhang, Zuoyi & Dong, Yujie & Huang, Xiaojin, 2019. "Automatic generation control for the flexible operation of multimodular high temperature gas-cooled reactor plants," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 11-31.

    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. Lykidi, Maria & Gourdel, Pascal, 2015. "How to manage flexible nuclear power plants in a deregulated electricity market from the point of view of social welfare?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 167-180.
    2. Alhadhrami, Saeed & Soto, Gabriel J & Lindley, Ben, 2023. "Dispatch analysis of flexible power operation with multi-unit small modular reactors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).
    3. Pascal Gourdel & Maria Lykidi, 2014. "The optimal short-term management of flexible nuclear plants in a competitive electricity system as a case of competition with reservoir," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-01053474, HAL.
    4. Pascal Gourdel & Maria Lykidi, 2014. "How to manage a large and flexible nuclear set in a deregulated electricity market from the point of view of social welfare?," PSE - Labex "OSE-Ouvrir la Science Economique" halshs-01053480, HAL.
    5. Pascal Gourdel & Maria Lykidi, 2014. "The optimal short-term management of flexible nuclear plants in a competitive electricity system as a case of competition with reservoir," Post-Print halshs-01053474, HAL.
    6. Pascal Gourdel & Maria Lykidi, 2014. "How to manage a large and flexible nuclear set in a deregulated electricity market from the point of view of social welfare?," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-01053480, HAL.
    7. Srikanth Reddy & Lokesh Panwar & Bijaya Ketan Panigrahi & Rajesh Kumar & Lalit Goel & Ameena Saad Al-Sumaiti, 2020. "A profit-based self-scheduling framework for generation company energy and ancillary service participation in multi-constrained environment with renewable energy penetration," Energy & Environment, , vol. 31(4), pages 549-569, June.
    8. Reus, Lorenzo & Munoz, Francisco D. & Moreno, Rodrigo, 2018. "Retail consumers and risk in centralized energy auctions for indexed long-term contracts in Chile," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 566-577.
    9. Crampes, Claude & Renault, Jérôme, 2018. "Supply flexibility in electricity markets," TSE Working Papers 18-964, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    10. Pascal Gourdel & Maria Lykidi, 2014. "The inter-temporal optimization of the operation of the nuclear fuel reservoir in a liberalized electricity market dominated by the nuclear generation," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 14058, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    11. Lauer, Markus & Thrän, Daniela, 2017. "Biogas plants and surplus generation: Cost driver or reducer in the future German electricity system?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 324-336.
    12. Dong, Zhe & Zhang, Zuoyi & Dong, Yujie & Huang, Xiaojin, 2018. "Multi-layer perception based model predictive control for the thermal power of nuclear superheated-steam supply systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 116-125.
    13. Chen, Yingwen & Chen, Liuliu & Li, Peiwen & Xu, Yuan & Fan, Mengjie & Zhu, Shemin & Shen, Shubao, 2016. "Enhanced performance of microbial fuel cells by using MnO2/Halloysite nanotubes to modify carbon cloth anodes," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 620-628.
    14. Dong, Zhe & Liu, Miao & Zhang, Zuoyi & Dong, Yujie & Huang, Xiaojin, 2019. "Automatic generation control for the flexible operation of multimodular high temperature gas-cooled reactor plants," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 11-31.
    15. Crampes, Claude & Renault, Jérôme, 2019. "How many markets for wholesale electricity when supply ispartially flexible?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 465-478.
    16. Pascal Gourdel & Maria Lykidi, 2014. "How to manage a large and flexible nuclear set in a deregulated electricity market from the point of view of social welfare?," Post-Print halshs-01053480, HAL.
    17. Scharff, Richard & Amelin, Mikael, 2016. "Trading behaviour on the continuous intraday market Elbas," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 544-557.
    18. Dong, Zhe & Pan, Yifei & Zhang, Zuoyi & Dong, Yujie & Huang, Xiaojin, 2017. "Model-free adaptive control law for nuclear superheated-steam supply systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 53-67.
    19. Jiang, Di & Dong, Zhe, 2019. "Practical dynamic matrix control of MHTGR-based nuclear steam supply systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 695-707.
    20. Pascal Gourdel & Maria Lykidi, 2014. "The inter-temporal optimization of the operation of the nuclear fuel reservoir in a liberalized electricity market dominated by the nuclear generation," Post-Print halshs-01053476, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Electricity production; Nuclear fuel reservoir; Flexible management; Inter-temporal profit maximization problem; Price discontinuity problem; Quadratic programming;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis
    • C63 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Computational Techniques
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • D41 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Perfect Competition
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:energy:v:132:y:2017:i:c:p:171-185. 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.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    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.