A multi-disciplinary analysis of UK grid mix scenarios with large-scale PV deployment

Raugei, Marco; Leccisi, Enrica; Azzopardi, Brian; Jones, Chris; Gilbert, Paul; Zhang, Lingxi; Zhou, Yutian; Mander, Sarah; Mancarella, Pierluigi

doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2017.11.062

Cited by 23 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 34 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Net Energy Analysis (NEA) provides a different and complementary viewpoint to LCA [23,26,28,29,76], and it is carried out here using the same underlying inventory analysis, thereby providing an internally coherent platform for the calculation and discussion of the results. Specifically, while LCA draws the boundary of the system under analysis so as to account for all natural resources used as inputs (and all emissions to the environment as outputs), NEA is only concerned with those energy inputs that are already available as energy carriers within the technosphere, and which are deliberately "invested" in the system (Inv) for the purpose of harvesting more primary energy (PE) from nature and delivering (the term "returning" is also often used) a usable energy carrier (EC) to society.…”

Section: Net Energy Analysis (Nea)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Coming to more UK-centric LCA studies, Stamford and Azapagic [22] compared a range of possible grid mix scenarios up to 2070, and concluded that a low-carbon mix with nuclear and renewables provides the best overall environmental performance, albeit with some increased impacts in terms of terrestrial eco-toxicity, and material resource depletion (elements). Raugei et al [23] investigated a number of stakeholder-informed photovoltaic-heavy grid mix options, and found that, despite the comparatively low insolation levels that are characteristic of the UK, no such scenarios would be detrimental to the grid performance from a wide range of technical and environmental metrics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A Prospective Net Energy and Environmental Life-Cycle Assessment of the UK Electricity Grid

2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

National Grid, the UK’s largest utility company, has produced a number of energy transition scenarios, among which “2 degrees” is the most aggressive in terms of decarbonization. This paper presents the results of a combined prospective net energy and environmental life cycle assessment of the UK electricity grid, based on such a scenario. The main findings are that the strategy is effective at drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions (albeit to a reduced degree with respect to the projected share of “zero carbon” generation taken at face value), but it entails a trade-off in terms of depletion of metal resources. The grid’s potential toxicity impacts are also expected to remain substantially undiminished with respect to the present. Overall, the analysis indicates that the “2 degrees” scenario is environmentally sound and that it even leads to a modest increase in the net energy delivered to society by the grid (after accounting for the energy investments required to deploy all technologies).

show abstract

Section: Net Energy Analysis (Nea)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Prospective Net Energy and Environmental Life-Cycle Assessment of the UK Electricity Grid

2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In this study, in order to integrate the LCA and NEA viewpoints, and to maximize the consistency of the calculations, both internally and externally with some of the more recent literature [10,12,13,15,17], when calculating the EROI of electricity (either produced by a specific technology, or by the grid mix as a whole), all energy investments at the denominator are always accounted for in terms of their respective life-cycle CED (and are thus quantified in units of oil-equivalent).…”

Section: Net Energy Analysis (Nea)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is also worth noting that it is important to assess each electricity grid as a whole, including all the electricity generation, transmission and storage technologies, and estimate the associated overall environmental impacts and energy implications, as discussed in some recent studies [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life-Cycle Carbon Emissions and Energy Return on Investment for 80% Domestic Renewable Electricity with Battery Storage in California (U.S.A.)

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper presents a detailed life-cycle assessment of the greenhouse gas emissions, cumulative demand for total and non-renewable primary energy, and energy return on investment (EROI) for the domestic electricity grid mix in the U.S. state of California, using hourly historical data for 2018, and future projections of increased solar photovoltaic (PV) installed capacity with lithium-ion battery energy storage, so as to achieve 80% net renewable electricity generation in 2030, while ensuring the hourly matching of the supply and demand profiles at all times. Specifically—in line with California’s plans that aim to increase the renewable energy share into the electric grid—in this study, PV installed capacity is assumed to reach 43.7 GW in 2030, resulting of 52% of the 2030 domestic electricity generation. In the modelled 2030 scenario, single-cycle gas turbines and nuclear plants are completely phased out, while combined-cycle gas turbine output is reduced by 30% compared to 2018. Results indicate that 25% of renewable electricity ends up being routed into storage, while 2.8% is curtailed. Results also show that such energy transition strategy would be effective at curbing California’s domestic electricity grid mix carbon emissions by 50%, and reducing demand for non-renewable primary energy by 66%, while also achieving a 10% increase in overall EROI (in terms of electricity output per unit of investment).

show abstract

“…Several authors clarified that the PEM and LCA coupling is suitable to study one or two closely related sectors with 5 to 20 products [43,44]. This is true for all reviewed case studies which applied PEM and LCA, with focus on one sector of energy production [22,[29][30][31][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51], or two sectors of energy production and waste management [52,53] or energy production and agriculture/forest/crop growing [39,41,[54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62].…”

Section: Operational Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Conceptual Review on Using Consequential Life Cycle Assessment Methodology for the Energy Sector

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Energy is engaged in the supply chain of many economic sectors; therefore, the environmental impacts of the energy sector are indirectly linked to those of other sectors. Consequential life cycle assessment (CLCA) is an appropriate methodology to examine the direct and indirect environmental impacts of a product due to technological, economic or social changes. To date, different methodological approaches are proposed, combining economic and environmental models. This paper reviews the basic concept of CLCA and the coupling of economic and environmental models for performing CLCA in the energy sector during the period 2006–2020, with the aim to provide a description of the different tools, highlighting their strengths and limitations. From the review, it emerges that economic modelling tools are frequently used in combination with environmental data for CLCA in the energy sector, including equilibrium, input-output, and dynamic models. Out of these, the equilibrium model is the most widely used, showing some strengths in availability of data and energy system modelling tools. The input-output model allows for describing both direct and indirect effects due to changes in the energy sector, by using publicly available data. The dynamic model is less frequently applied due to its limitation in availability of data and modelling tools, but has recently attracted more attention due to the ability in modelling quantitative and qualitative indicators of sustainability.

show abstract

A multi-disciplinary analysis of UK grid mix scenarios with large-scale PV deployment

Cited by 23 publications

References 34 publications

A Prospective Net Energy and Environmental Life-Cycle Assessment of the UK Electricity Grid

A Prospective Net Energy and Environmental Life-Cycle Assessment of the UK Electricity Grid

Life-Cycle Carbon Emissions and Energy Return on Investment for 80% Domestic Renewable Electricity with Battery Storage in California (U.S.A.)

A Conceptual Review on Using Consequential Life Cycle Assessment Methodology for the Energy Sector

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About