Intermittency and CO2 Reductions from Wind Energy

Abstract

Using detailed 5-minute electricity generation data, we examine the impact of wind intermittency on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions savings from wind energy in the Southwest Power Pool from 2012-2014. Parametric and semi-parametric analysis confirms concerns that intra-hour wind intermittency reduces CO2 emissions savings from wind—in the top decile of wind intermittency, emission savings are reduced by nearly 10 percent. However, the average wind intermittency effect on emission savings is modest, on the order of 6.5 percent when accounting for dynamic effects. Evidence suggests the intermittency effect is likely to remain modest in the near-term.

Intermittency in Wind Energy and Emissions from the Electricity Sector: Evidence from 13 Years of Data

“…The size, magnitude, and the significance of the coefficient is fairly robust and consistent across different specifications. The coefficient estimates for wind generation are between −0.53 and −0.65, which is in line with previous estimates published in the literature (e.g., [10,24]). We note that all standard errors reported in this study are clustered at the week level.…”

“…The core idea here is that instead of calculating the avoided emissions as a result of solving a grid optimization problem using a dispatch model, we could estimate it using publicly available emissions and generation data and econometric methods. There is a growing strand in the energy economics literature adopting this method (e.g., [10,[22][23][24]).…”

“…Second, while many studies investigate the environmental benefits of renewable energy, the subset of these studies specifically taking intermittency into account are rather limited. Notable recent exceptions are [7,24]. Using two years of sub-hourly data from the Southern Power Pool, [24] estimates the effect of wind and its intermittency on emissions.…”

“…Notable recent exceptions are [7,24]. Using two years of sub-hourly data from the Southern Power Pool, [24] estimates the effect of wind and its intermittency on emissions. They find that while the increased renewable capacity does reduce emissions, the effect of intermittency is modest in comparison.…”

Decarbonizing Electricity Generation with Intermittent Sources of Energy

“…Cullen (2013) estimates the pollution emission offset by wind power in Texas taking into account intermittency. Kaffine and McBee (2017) perform a similar estimation for CO 2 emissions using high-frequency generation data from the US Southwest Power Pool. In the same vein, Gowrisankaran et al (2016) quantify the cost of solar power in Arizona in an optimized energy mix.…”