Uncertainty and policy design for sustainable energy systems
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Decarbonizing the electricity sector will require a massive increase in variable solar and wind generation. Maintaining the stability of that future grid will require new sources of flexibility to keep supply and demand in balance without relying on traditional fossil-fired generation. Battery-based storage and flexible demand are two promising sources of flexibility that could each play a large role in future electricity grids. New policies are necessary to support the growth and value of these resources, and to integrate them into existing markets, because they work very differently from the traditional electricity generators that markets were originally designed to coordinate. This dissertation contributes to ongoing policy discussions by identifying how policy and market design can efficiently support the growth of each of these up-and-coming resources. In doing so, it advances our knowledge of exactly how these resources can most effectively provide value to the electricity grid. This dissertation begins with a novel taxonomy of uncertainty analysis approaches available to macro-energy systems modeling and includes a summation of best-practice advice that is applied in the following chapters. The third chapter examines the design of Demand Response (DR) programs, which could provide flexibility to the electricity grid through programs that incentivize customers to reduce or shift their electricity usage. It examines the implications of several common DR program design parameters for the system value and customer experience, revealing which parameters may severely limit the value of DR, and which offer smart tradeoffs between utility and customer outcomes. Results show that advance notice requirements as well as duration, total-time and total energy limits could be valuable tools for providing good system value while minimizing customer impacts. DR program designers should avoid creating programs with poor reliability and time-of- day limits, as these can significantly reduce system value. The fourth chapter examines the economic outcomes, as well as greenhouse gas and criteria air pollutant emissions resulting from grid-scale lithium-ion battery storage across three different Independent System Operators in the US. It identifies situations where smart policy can support the growth of this industry and its value to society and shows that the financial attractiveness of batteries varies greatly by region. The frequency regulation (FR) market currently drives the profitability of batteries. Results suggest that policy supporting learning-by-doing and attractive financing terms can help batteries remain financially attractive despite expected declines in FR prices. Finally, it shows that batteries can increase the net emissions of the electricity system, but studies that do not incorporate ancillary services into battery dispatch decisions may not correctly estimate the magnitude of this effect.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2021; ©2021 |
| Publication date | 2021; 2021 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Levi, Patricia |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Weyant, John P. (John Peter) |
| Thesis advisor | Weyant, John P. (John Peter) |
| Thesis advisor | Azevedo, Inês M. L |
| Thesis advisor | Benson, Sally |
| Degree committee member | Azevedo, Inês M. L |
| Degree committee member | Benson, Sally |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Management Science and Engineering |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Patricia Janet Levi. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Management Science and Engineering. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2021. |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/fv165dw2130 |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2021 by Patricia Levi
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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