IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-03508233.html

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

Author

Listed:
  • Behrang Shirizadeh

    (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AgroParisTech - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - Université Paris-Saclay - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, [Total Energies. Anciennement : Total, TotalFina, TotalFinaElf] - TotalEnergies)

  • Philippe Quirion

    (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AgroParisTech - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - Université Paris-Saclay - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

In the wake of the Paris agreement, France has set a target of zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This target can only be achieved by rapidly decreasing the proportion 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- 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 power stations 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) in reaching carbon neutrality at moderate cost. Negative emissions may represent an important carbon market which could attract investments if supported by public policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Behrang Shirizadeh & Philippe Quirion, 2021. "Low-carbon options for the French power sector: What role for renewables, nuclear energy and carbon capture and storage?," Post-Print hal-03508233, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03508233
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2020.105004
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-03508233v1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-03508233v1/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eneco.2020.105004?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:aen:journl:ej37-4-petitet is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Lauret, Philippe & Boland, John & Ridley, Barbara, 2013. "Bayesian statistical analysis applied to solar radiation modelling," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 124-127.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. 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).
    6. 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.
    7. repec:aen:journl:ej39-3-roques is not listed on IDEAS
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. Perrier, Quentin, 2018. "The second French nuclear bet," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 858-877.
    12. 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.
    13. Emile Quinet, 2014. "L'évaluation socioéconomique des investissements publics," PSE Working Papers halshs-01059484, HAL.
    14. 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.
    15. 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.
    16. Emile Quinet, 2014. "L'évaluation socioéconomique des investissements publics," Working Papers halshs-01059484, HAL.
    17. Emile Quinet, 2014. "L'évaluation socioéconomique des investissements publics," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-01059484, HAL.
    18. 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.
    19. Daniel L. Sanchez & Daniel M. Kammen, 2016. "A commercialization strategy for carbon-negative energy," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 1(1), pages 1-4, January.
    20. Behrang Shirizadeh & Quentin Perrier & Philippe Quirion, 2022. "How Sensitive are Optimal Fully Renewable Power Systems to Technology Cost Uncertainty?," The Energy Journal, , vol. 43(1), pages 43-75, January.
    21. 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.
    22. 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.
    23. 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.
    24. 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.
    25. Hirth, Lion & Müller, Simon, 2016. "System-friendly wind power," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 51-63.
    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. Behrang Shirizadeh & Quentin Perrier & Philippe Quirion, 2022. "How Sensitive are Optimal Fully Renewable Power Systems to Technology Cost Uncertainty?," The Energy Journal, , vol. 43(1), pages 43-75, January.
    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. Behrang Shirizadeh & Philippe Quirion, 2023. "Long-term optimization of the hydrogen-electricity nexus in France," Post-Print hal-04347126, HAL.
    7. Béres, Rebeka & van der Wel, Auke & Fattahi, Amir & van den Broek, Machteld, 2024. "The impact of national policies on Europe-wide power system transition towards net-zero 2050," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 310(C).
    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. 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).
    10. Mauleón, Ignacio, 2019. "Optimizing individual renewable energies roadmaps: Criteria, methods, and end targets," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C), pages 1-1.
    11. 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.
    12. 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).
    13. 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.
    14. 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).
    15. 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).
    16. 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).
    17. 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).
    18. 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.
    19. 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.
    20. Shirizadeh, Behrang & Quirion, Philippe, 2023. "Long-term optimization of the hydrogen-electricity nexus in France: Green, blue, or pink hydrogen?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).

    More about this item

    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:hal:journl:hal-03508233. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.