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

Author

Listed:
  • Maria Lykidi

    (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Pascal Gourdel

    (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

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

  • Maria Lykidi & Pascal Gourdel, 2017. "Optimal management of flexible nuclear power plants in a decarbonising competitive electricity market: The French case," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) hal-03659252, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:pseptp:hal-03659252
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2017.05.065
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. 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).
    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.

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