IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v86y2015icp1-16.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Location matters: The impact of renewable power on transmission congestion and emissions

Author

Listed:
  • Hitaj, Claudia

Abstract

Many governments offer subsidies for renewable power to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the power sector. However, most support schemes for renewable power do not take into account that emissions depend on the location of renewable and conventional power plants within an electricity grid. I simulate optimal power flow in a test grid when 4 renewable power plants connect to the grid across 24 potential sites, amounting to over 10,000 configurations. Each configuration is associated with different levels of emissions and renewable power output. I find that emission reductions vary by a factor of 7 and that curtailment due to transmission congestion is more likely when renewable power plants are concentrated in an area of the grid with low demand. Large cost savings could be obtained by allowing subsidies for renewable power to vary across locations according to abatement potential or by replacing subsidies with a price on emissions.

Suggested Citation

  • Hitaj, Claudia, 2015. "Location matters: The impact of renewable power on transmission congestion and emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1-16.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:86:y:2015:i:c:p:1-16
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2015.06.019
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421515002372
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2015.06.019?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. Palmer, Karen & Burtraw, Dallas, 2005. "Cost-effectiveness of renewable electricity policies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 873-894, November.
    2. Palmer, Karen & Paul, Anthony & Woerman, Matt & Steinberg, Daniel C., 2011. "Federal policies for renewable electricity: Impacts and interactions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 3975-3991, July.
    3. Severin Borenstein, 2012. "The Private and Public Economics of Renewable Electricity Generation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(1), pages 67-92, Winter.
    4. Seth Blumsack & Lester B. Lave & Marija Ilic, 2007. "A Quantitative Analysis of the Relationship Between Congestion and Reliability in Electric Power Networks," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 73-100.
    5. Fell, Harrison & Linn, Joshua, 2013. "Renewable electricity policies, heterogeneity, and cost effectiveness," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 688-707.
    6. Hitaj, Claudia, 2013. "Wind power development in the United States," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 394-410.
    7. Fischer, Carolyn & Newell, Richard G., 2008. "Environmental and technology policies for climate mitigation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 142-162, March.
    8. Daniel T. Kaffine, Brannin J. McBee, and Jozef Lieskovsky, 2013. "Emissions Savings from Wind Power Generation in Texas," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1).
    9. Kevin Novan, 2015. "Valuing the Wind: Renewable Energy Policies and Air Pollution Avoided," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 7(3), pages 291-326, August.
    10. Joseph Cullen, 2013. "Measuring the Environmental Benefits of Wind-Generated Electricity," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(4), pages 107-133, November.
    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. Lin, Yashen & Johnson, Jeremiah X. & Mathieu, Johanna L., 2016. "Emissions impacts of using energy storage for power system reserves," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 444-456.
    2. Hitaj, Claudia & Löschel, Andreas, 2019. "The impact of a feed-in tariff on wind power development in Germany," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 18-35.
    3. Savelli, Iacopo & Hardy, Jeffrey & Hepburn, Cameron & Morstyn, Thomas, 2022. "Putting wind and solar in their place: Internalising congestion and other system-wide costs with enhanced contracts for difference in Great Britain," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    4. Oliveira, Tiago & Varum, Celeste & Botelho, Anabela, 2019. "Wind power and CO2 emissions in the Irish market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 48-58.
    5. Karhinen, Santtu & Huuki, Hannu, 2020. "How are the long distances between renewable energy sources and load centres reflected in locational marginal prices?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    6. Erik P. Johnson & Juan Moreno-Cruz, 2020. "Congestion in the Electricity Transmission System Redistributes Pollution across Long Distances," CESifo Working Paper Series 8483, CESifo.
    7. Oliveira, Tiago & Varum, Celeste & Botelho, Anabela, 2019. "Econometric modeling of CO2 emissions abatement: Comparing alternative approaches," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 310-322.
    8. Komiyama, Ryoichi & Fujii, Yasumasa, 2019. "Optimal integration assessment of solar PV in Japan’s electric power grid," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1012-1028.
    9. Akpan, P.U. & Fuls, W.F., 2021. "Cycling of coal fired power plants: A generic CO2 emissions factor model for predicting CO2 emissions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    10. Komiyama, Ryoichi & Fujii, Yasumasa, 2017. "Assessment of post-Fukushima renewable energy policy in Japan's nation-wide power grid," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 594-611.
    11. Costa-Campi, Maria Teresa & Davi-Arderius, Daniel & Trujillo-Baute, Elisa, 2021. "Analysing electricity flows and congestions: Looking at locational patterns," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    12. Bucksteeg, Michael, 2019. "Modelling the impact of geographical diversification of wind turbines on the required firm capacity in Germany," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 1476-1491.
    13. Chaparro, Iván & Watts, David & Gil, Esteban, 2017. "Modeling marginal CO2 emissions in hydrothermal systems: Efficient carbon signals for renewables," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 318-331.
    14. Bjørnebye, Henrik & Hagem, Cathrine & Lind, Arne, 2018. "Optimal location of renewable power," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 1203-1215.
    15. Meus, Jelle & Van den Bergh, Kenneth & Delarue, Erik & Proost, Stef, 2019. "On international renewable cooperation mechanisms: The impact of national RES-E support schemes," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 859-873.
    16. Lynch, Muireann & Longoria, Genaro & Curtis, John, 2021. "Market design options for electricity markets with high variable renewable generation," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    17. Navon, Aviad & Kulbekov, Pavel & Dolev, Shahar & Yehuda, Gil & Levron, Yoash, 2020. "Integration of distributed renewable energy sources in Israel: Transmission congestion challenges and policy recommendations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    18. Costa-Campi, Maria Teresa & Davi-Arderius, Daniel & Trujillo-Baute, Elisa, 2020. "Locational impact and network costs of energy transition: Introducing geographical price signals for new renewable capacity," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(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. Abrell, Jan & Rausch, Sebastian & Streitberger, Clemens, 2019. "The economics of renewable energy support," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 94-117.
    2. Wiser, Ryan & Millstein, Dev & Mai, Trieu & Macknick, Jordan & Carpenter, Alberta & Cohen, Stuart & Cole, Wesley & Frew, Bethany & Heath, Garvin, 2016. "The environmental and public health benefits of achieving high penetrations of solar energy in the United States," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 472-486.
    3. Mar Reguant, 2018. "The Efficiency and Sectoral Distributional Implications of Large-Scale Renewable Policies," NBER Working Papers 24398, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Harrison Fell & Daniel T. Kaffine, 2014. "A one-two punch: Joint effects of natural gas abundance and renewables on coal-fired power plants," Working Papers 2014-10, Colorado School of Mines, Division of Economics and Business.
    5. Abrell, Jan & Kosch, Mirjam & Rausch, Sebastian, 2019. "Carbon abatement with renewables: Evaluating wind and solar subsidies in Germany and Spain," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 172-202.
    6. Bistline, John & Santen, Nidhi & Young, David, 2019. "The economic geography of variable renewable energy and impacts of trade formulations for renewable mandates," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 79-96.
    7. Wiser, Ryan & Bolinger, Mark & Heath, Garvin & Keyser, David & Lantz, Eric & Macknick, Jordan & Mai, Trieu & Millstein, Dev, 2016. "Long-term implications of sustained wind power growth in the United States: Potential benefits and secondary impacts," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 146-158.
    8. Motavasseli, Ali, 2016. "Essays in environmental policy and household economics," Other publications TiSEM b32e287e-169b-4e89-9878-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    9. Graff Zivin, Joshua S. & Kotchen, Matthew J. & Mansur, Erin T., 2014. "Spatial and temporal heterogeneity of marginal emissions: Implications for electric cars and other electricity-shifting policies," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 107(PA), pages 248-268.
    10. Stefan Lamp & Mario Samano, 2023. "(Mis)allocation of Renewable Energy Sources," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 10(1), pages 195-229.
    11. Karen Maguire & Abdul Munasib, 2013. "Do Renewables Portfolio Standards Increase Electricity Prices? A Synthetic Control Approach," Economics Working Paper Series 1403, Oklahoma State University, Department of Economics and Legal Studies in Business, revised Aug 2013.
    12. Gugler, Klaus & Haxhimusa, Adhurim & Liebensteiner, Mario, 2023. "Carbon pricing and emissions: Causal effects of Britain's carbon tax," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    13. Nathaly M Rivera & Cristobal Ruiz Tagle, Elisheba Spiller, 2021. "The Health Benefits of Solar Power Generation: Evidence from Chile," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2021_04, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    14. Zerrahn, Alexander, 2017. "Wind Power and Externalities," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 245-260.
    15. Karen Maguire & Abdul Munasib, 2018. "Electricity Price Increase in Texas: What is the Role of RPS?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 69(2), pages 293-316, February.
    16. Holladay, J. Scott & LaRiviere, Jacob, 2017. "The impact of cheap natural gas on marginal emissions from electricity generation and implications for energy policy," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 205-227.
    17. van Kooten, G. Cornelis, 2015. "All you want to know about the Economics of Wind Power," Working Papers 241693, University of Victoria, Resource Economics and Policy.
    18. John J. García Rendón & Alex F. Pérez-Libreros, 2019. "El precio spot de la electricidad y la inclusión de energía renovable no convencional: evidencia para Colombia," Documentos de Trabajo CIEF 17393, Universidad EAFIT.
    19. Wichsinee Wibulpolprasert, 2016. "Optimal Environmental Policies And Renewable Energy Investment: Evidence From The Texas Electricity Market," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 7(04), pages 1-41, November.
    20. Graf, Christoph & Marcantonini, Claudio, 2017. "Renewable energy and its impact on thermal generation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 421-430.

    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:enepol:v:86:y:2015:i:c:p:1-16. 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.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    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.