IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fae/ppaper/2020.01.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Low-carbon options for the French power sector: What role for renewables, nuclear energy and carbon capture and storage?

Author

Listed:
  • Behrang Shirizadeh

    (CIRED / TOTAL S.A.)

  • Philippe Quirion

    (CIRED)

Abstract

In the wake of the Paris agreement, France has set a zero net greenhouse gas emission target by 2050. This target can only be achieved by rapidly decreasing the share of fossil fuels and accelerating the deployment of low-carbon technologies. We develop a detailed model of the power sector to investigate the role of different low emission and negative emission technologies in the French electricity mix and we identify the impact of the relative cost of these technologies for various values of the social cost of carbon (SCC). We show that for a wide range of SCC values (from 0 to 500€/tCO2), the optimal power mix consists of roughly 75% of renewable power. For a SCC value of 100€/tCO2, the power sector becomes nearly carbon neutral while for 200€/tCO2 and more, it provides negative emissions. The availability of negative emission technologies can decrease the system cost by up to 18% and can create up to 20MtCO2/year of negative emissions, while the availability of new nuclear is much less important. This study demonstrates the importance of an effective SCC value (as a tax for positive emissions and remuneration for negative emissions) to reach carbon neutrality for moderate costs. Negative emissions may represent an important carbon market which can attract investments if supported by public policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Behrang Shirizadeh & Philippe Quirion, 2020. "Low-carbon options for the French power sector: What role for renewables, nuclear energy and carbon capture and storage?," Policy Papers 2020.01, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    • Handle: RePEc:fae:ppaper:2020.01
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://faere.fr/pub/PolicyPapers/Shirizadeh_Quirion_FAERE_PP2020.01.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2020
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Krakowski, Vincent & Assoumou, Edi & Mazauric, Vincent & Maïzi, Nadia, 2016. "Feasible path toward 40–100% renewable energy shares for power supply in France by 2050: A prospective analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 501-522.
    2. Krakowski, Vincent & Assoumou, Edi & Mazauric, Vincent & Maïzi, Nadia, 2016. "Reprint of Feasible path toward 40–100% renewable energy shares for power supply in France by 2050: A prospective analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 1529-1550.
    3. Zerrahn, Alexander & Schill, Wolf-Peter, 2017. "Long-run power storage requirements for high shares of renewables: review and a new model," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 1518-1534.
    4. Behrang Shirizadeh, Quentin Perrier, and Philippe Quirion, 2022. "How Sensitive are Optimal Fully Renewable Power Systems to Technology Cost Uncertainty?," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1).
    5. Marie Petitet, Dominique Finon, and Tanguy Janssen, 2016. "Carbon Price instead of Support Schemes: Wind Power Investments by the Electricity Market," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4).
    6. Daniel L. Sanchez & Daniel M. Kammen, 2016. "A commercialization strategy for carbon-negative energy," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 1(1), pages 1-4, January.
    7. Linares, Pedro & Conchado, Adela, 2013. "The economics of new nuclear power plants in liberalized electricity markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(S1), pages 119-125.
    8. Brouwer, Anne Sjoerd & van den Broek, Machteld & Zappa, William & Turkenburg, Wim C. & Faaij, André, 2016. "Least-cost options for integrating intermittent renewables in low-carbon power systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 48-74.
    9. Hirth, Lion & Müller, Simon, 2016. "System-friendly wind power," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 51-63.
    10. Perrier, Quentin, 2018. "The second French nuclear bet," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 858-877.
    11. Lauret, Philippe & Boland, John & Ridley, Barbara, 2013. "Bayesian statistical analysis applied to solar radiation modelling," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 124-127.
    12. Cebulla, F. & Fichter, T., 2017. "Merit order or unit-commitment: How does thermal power plant modeling affect storage demand in energy system models?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 117-132.
    13. Enevoldsen, Peter & Permien, Finn-Hendrik & Bakhtaoui, Ines & Krauland, Anna-Katharina von & Jacobson, Mark Z. & Xydis, George & Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Valentine, Scott V. & Luecht, Daniel & Oxley, G, 2019. "How much wind power potential does europe have? Examining european wind power potential with an enhanced socio-technical atlas," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 1092-1100.
    14. Kan, Xiaoming & Hedenus, Fredrik & Reichenberg, Lina, 2020. "The cost of a future low-carbon electricity system without nuclear power – the case of Sweden," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    15. Sébastien Annan-Phan and Fabien A. Roques, 2018. "Market Integration and Wind Generation: An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Wind Generation on Cross-Border Power Prices," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3).
    16. Ryan Wiser & Karen Jenni & Joachim Seel & Erin Baker & Maureen Hand & Eric Lantz & Aaron Smith, 2016. "Expert elicitation survey on future wind energy costs," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 1(10), pages 1-8, October.
    17. Moraes, L. & Bussar, C. & Stoecker, P. & Jacqué, Kevin & Chang, Mokhi & Sauer, D.U., 2018. "Comparison of long-term wind and photovoltaic power capacity factor datasets with open-license," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 225(C), pages 209-220.
    18. Pfenninger, Stefan & Staffell, Iain, 2016. "Long-term patterns of European PV output using 30 years of validated hourly reanalysis and satellite data," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 1251-1265.
    19. Emile Quinet, 2014. "L'évaluation socioéconomique des investissements publics," PSE Working Papers halshs-01059484, HAL.
    20. Gautam Gowrisankaran & Stanley S. Reynolds & Mario Samano, 2016. "Intermittency and the Value of Renewable Energy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(4), pages 1187-1234.
    21. Emile Quinet, 2014. "L'évaluation socioéconomique des investissements publics," Working Papers halshs-01059484, HAL.
    22. Emile Quinet, 2014. "L'évaluation socioéconomique des investissements publics," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-01059484, HAL.
    23. Staffell, Iain & Pfenninger, Stefan, 2016. "Using bias-corrected reanalysis to simulate current and future wind power output," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 1224-1239.
    24. Schlachtberger, D.P. & Brown, T. & Schäfer, M. & Schramm, S. & Greiner, M., 2018. "Cost optimal scenarios of a future highly renewable European electricity system: Exploring the influence of weather data, cost parameters and policy constraints," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 100-114.
    25. Nahla A M Hamed, 2017. "Does MIDH Inhibitors is a Promising Therapy?," Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research, Biomedical Research Network+, LLC, vol. 1(2), pages 373-375, July.
    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. Holz, Franziska & Scherwath, Tim & Crespo del Granado, Pedro & Skar, Christian & Olmos, Luis & Ploussard, Quentin & Ramos, Andrés & Herbst, Andrea, 2021. "A 2050 perspective on the role for carbon capture and storage in the European power system and industry sector," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 104, pages 1-18.
    2. Behrang Shirizadeh & Philippe Quirion, 2023. "Long-term optimization of the hydrogen-electricity nexus in France," Working Papers 2023.06, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    3. Zimmermann, Florian & Keles, Dogan, 2023. "State or market: Investments in new nuclear power plants in France and their domestic and cross-border effects," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    4. Lin, Boqiang & Xie, Yongjing, 2022. "Analysis on operational efficiency and its influencing factors of China’s nuclear power plants," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PA).
    5. Clerjon, Arthur & Perdu, Fabien, 2022. "Matching intermittent electricity supply and demand with electricity storage - An optimization based on a time scale analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    6. Ozan Korkmaz & Bihrat Önöz, 2022. "Modelling the Potential Impacts of Nuclear Energy and Renewables in the Turkish Energy System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-25, February.
    7. Henni, Sarah & Schäffer, Michael & Fischer, Peter & Weinhardt, Christof & Staudt, Philipp, 2023. "Bottom-up system modeling of battery storage requirements for integrated renewable energy systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    8. Thimet, P.J. & Mavromatidis, G., 2022. "Review of model-based electricity system transition scenarios: An analysis for Switzerland, Germany, France, and Italy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    9. Alexis Tantet & Philippe Drobinski, 2021. "A Minimal System Cost Minimization Model for Variable Renewable Energy Integration: Application to France and Comparison to Mean-Variance Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-38, August.
    10. Lynch, Arthur & Perez, Yannick & Gabriel, Sophie & Mathonniere, Gilles, 2022. "Nuclear fleet flexibility: Modeling and impacts on power systems with renewable energy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    11. Alexis Tantet & Philippe Drobinski, 2021. "A Minimal System Cost Minimization Model for Variable Renewable Energy Integration: Application to France and Comparison to Mean-Variance Analysis," Post-Print hal-03350191, HAL.
    12. Shirizadeh, Behrang & Quirion, Philippe, 2022. "Do multi-sector energy system optimization models need hourly temporal resolution? A case study with an investment and dispatch model applied to France," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    13. Migliavacca, Milena & Patel, Ritesh & Paltrinieri, Andrea & Goodell, John W., 2022. "Mapping impact investing: A bibliometric analysis," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    14. Zimmermann, Florian & Keles, Dogan, 2022. "State or market: Investments in new nuclear power plants in France and their domestic and cross-border effects," Working Paper Series in Production and Energy 64, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Industrial Production (IIP).
    15. Shi, Xingping & He, Qing & Lu, Chang & Wang, Tingting & Cui, Shuangshuang & Du, Dongmei, 2023. "Variable load modes and operation characteristics of closed Brayton cycle pumped thermal electricity storage system with liquid-phase storage," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 715-730.
    16. Handayani, Kamia & Anugrah, Pinto & Goembira, Fadjar & Overland, Indra & Suryadi, Beni & Swandaru, Akbar, 2022. "Moving beyond the NDCs: ASEAN pathways to a net-zero emissions power sector in 2050," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    17. Luo, Shihua & Hu, Weihao & Liu, Wen & Zhang, Zhenyuan & Bai, Chunguang & Huang, Qi & Chen, Zhe, 2022. "Study on the decarbonization in China's power sector under the background of carbon neutrality by 2060," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    18. Aleksandra Badora & Krzysztof Kud & Marian Woźniak, 2021. "Nuclear Energy Perception and Ecological Attitudes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-18, July.
    19. Behrang Shirizadeh, 2020. "Carbon-neutral future with sector-coupling; relative role of different mitigation options in energy sector," Working Papers 2020.19, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    20. Shirizadeh, Behrang & Quirion, Philippe, 2022. "The importance of renewable gas in achieving carbon-neutrality: Insights from an energy system optimization model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).

    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. Behrang Shirizadeh, Quentin Perrier, and Philippe Quirion, 2022. "How Sensitive are Optimal Fully Renewable Power Systems to Technology Cost Uncertainty?," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1).
    2. Shirizadeh, Behrang & Quirion, Philippe, 2022. "The importance of renewable gas in achieving carbon-neutrality: Insights from an energy system optimization model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    3. Behrang Shirizadeh, 2020. "Carbon-neutral future with sector-coupling; relative role of different mitigation options in energy sector," Working Papers 2020.19, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    4. Shirizadeh, Behrang & Quirion, Philippe, 2022. "Do multi-sector energy system optimization models need hourly temporal resolution? A case study with an investment and dispatch model applied to France," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    5. de Guibert, Paul & Shirizadeh, Behrang & Quirion, Philippe, 2020. "Variable time-step: A method for improving computational tractability for energy system models with long-term storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    6. Zimmermann, Florian & Keles, Dogan, 2022. "State or market: Investments in new nuclear power plants in France and their domestic and cross-border effects," Working Paper Series in Production and Energy 64, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Industrial Production (IIP).
    7. Behrang Shirizadeh & Philippe Quirion, 2023. "Long-term optimization of the hydrogen-electricity nexus in France," Post-Print hal-04347126, HAL.
    8. Østergaard, P.A. & Lund, H. & Thellufsen, J.Z. & Sorknæs, P. & Mathiesen, B.V., 2022. "Review and validation of EnergyPLAN," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    9. Mauleón, Ignacio, 2019. "Optimizing individual renewable energies roadmaps: Criteria, methods, and end targets," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C), pages 1-1.
    10. Alexis Tantet & Marc Stéfanon & Philippe Drobinski & Jordi Badosa & Silvia Concettini & Anna Cretì & Claudia D’Ambrosio & Dimitri Thomopulos & Peter Tankov, 2019. "e 4 clim 1.0: The Energy for a Climate Integrated Model: Description and Application to Italy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-37, November.
    11. Matsuo, Yuhji & Endo, Seiya & Nagatomi, Yu & Shibata, Yoshiaki & Komiyama, Ryoichi & Fujii, Yasumasa, 2020. "Investigating the economics of the power sector under high penetration of variable renewable energies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    12. Xin-Cheng Meng & Yeon-Ho Seong & Min-Kyu Lee, 2021. "Research Characteristics and Development Trend of Global Low-Carbon Power—Based on Bibliometric Analysis of 1983–2021," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-20, August.
    13. Kies, Alexander & Schyska, Bruno U. & Bilousova, Mariia & El Sayed, Omar & Jurasz, Jakub & Stoecker, Horst, 2021. "Critical review of renewable generation datasets and their implications for European power system models," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    14. Maeder, Mattia & Weiss, Olga & Boulouchos, Konstantinos, 2021. "Assessing the need for flexibility technologies in decarbonized power systems: A new model applied to Central Europe," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(PA).
    15. Maruf, Md. Nasimul Islam, 2021. "Open model-based analysis of a 100% renewable and sector-coupled energy system–The case of Germany in 2050," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    16. Quentin Perrier, 2017. "The French Nuclear Bet," Working Papers 2017.18, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    17. Liu, Hailiang & Brown, Tom & Andresen, Gorm Bruun & Schlachtberger, David P. & Greiner, Martin, 2019. "The role of hydro power, storage and transmission in the decarbonization of the Chinese power system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(C), pages 1308-1321.
    18. Lenzen, Manfred & McBain, Bonnie & Trainer, Ted & Jütte, Silke & Rey-Lescure, Olivier & Huang, Jing, 2016. "Simulating low-carbon electricity supply for Australia," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 553-564.
    19. Héctor Marañón-Ledesma & Asgeir Tomasgard, 2019. "Analyzing Demand Response in a Dynamic Capacity Expansion Model for the European Power Market," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-24, August.
    20. Brown, T. & Reichenberg, L., 2021. "Decreasing market value of variable renewables can be avoided by policy action," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Power system modelling; Variable renewables; Negative emissions; Social cost of carbon; Nuclear energy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q47 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Energy Forecasting
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • Q21 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Demand and Supply; Prices

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:fae:ppaper:2020.01. 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: Dorothée Charlier (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/faereea.html .

    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.