Motivated by the role of decarbonizing the electric power sector to mitigate climate change, I assess the economic and environmental merits of three key technologies for decarbonizing the electric power sector across four chapters in this thesis. These chapters explore how adding flexibility to power plants equipped with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) affects system costs and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, how grid-scale electricity storage affects system CO2 emissions as a power system decarbonizes, and how distributed solar photovoltaic (distributed PV) electricity generation suppresses wholesale electricity prices. In each chapter, I address these questions through a combination of power system optimization, statistics, and techno-economic analysis, and tie my findings to policy implications. In Chapter 2, I compare the cost-effectiveness of “flexible” CCS retrofits to other compliance strategies with the U.S. Clean Power Plan (CPP) and a hypothetical stronger CPP. Relative to “normal” CCS, “flexible” CCS retrofits include solvent storage that allows the generator to temporarily eliminate the CCS parasitic load and increase the generator’s net efficiency, capacity, and ramp rate. Using a unit commitment and economic dispatch (UCED) model, I find that flexible CCS achieves more cost-effective emissions reductions than normal CCS under the CPP and stronger CPP, but that flexible CCS is less cost-effective than other compliance strategies under both reduction targets. In Chapter 3, I conduct a detailed comparison of how flexible versus normal CCS retrofits affect total system costs and CO2 emissions under a moderate and strong CO2 emission limit. Given that a key benefit of flexible CCS relative to normal CCS is increased reserve provision, I break total system costs into generation, reserve, and CCS capital costs. Using a UCED model, I find that flexible CCS retrofits reduce total system costs relative to normal CCS retrofits under both emission limits. Furthermore, 40-80% of these cost reductions come from reserve cost reductions. Accounting for costs and CO2 emissions, though, flexible CCS poses a trade-off to policymakers under the moderate emission limit, as flexible CCS increases system CO2 emissions relative to normal CCS. No such trade-off exists under the stronger emission limit, as flexible CCS reduces system CO2 emissions and costs relative to normal CCS. In Chapter 4, I quantify how storage affects operational CO2 emissions as a power system decarbonizes under a moderate and strong CO2 emission limit through 2045. In so doing, I aim to better understand how storage transitions from increasing CO2 emissions in historic U.S. systems to enabling deeply decarbonized systems. Additionally, under each target I compare how storage affects CO2 emissions when participating in only energy, only reserve, and energy and reserve markets. Using a capacity expansion (CE) model to forecast fleet changes through 2045 and a UCED model to quantify how storage affects system CO2 emissions, I find that storage quickly transitions from increasing to decreasing CO2 emissions under the moderate and strong emission limits. Whether storage provides only energy, only reserves, or energy and reserves drives large differences in the magnitude, but not the direction, of the effect of storage on CO2 emissions. In Chapter 5, I quantify a benefit of distributed photovoltaic (PV) generation often overlooked by value of solar studies, namely the market price response. By displacing high-cost marginal generators, distributed PV generation reduces wholesale electricity prices, which in turn reduces utilities’ energy procurement costs. Using 2013 through 2015 data from California including a database of all distributed PV systems in the three California investor owned utilities, we estimate historic hourly distributed PV generation in California, then link that generation to reduced wholesale electricity prices via linear regression. From 2013 through 2015, we find that distributed PV suppressed historic median hourly LMPs by up to $2.7-3.1/MWh, yielding avoided costs of up to $650-730 million. These avoided costs are smaller than but on the order of other avoided costs commonly included in value of solar studies, so merit inclusion in future studies to properly value distributed PV.

This thesis provides a tool to determine the maximum capacity, of a given power grid, when connecting distributed photovoltaic parks including the optimal allocation of the parks taking the power grid configuration into account. This tool is based on a computational model that evaluates the hosting capacity of the given grid through power flow simulations. The tool also integrates a geographic information system that links suitable land areas to nearby substations that can host photovoltaic parks. The mathematical model was tested on different cases in the municipality of Herrljunga, Sweden, where it was determined to be possible to connect 47 photovoltaic parks of 1MWp to the power grid as well as the most appropriate substations to allocate them to without the need for grid reinforcements. Additionally, the concept of grid cost allocation is presented and briefly discussed while analysing the results in relation to national energy targets.

This study evaluates energy performance and economic analysis of variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems in U.S. climate locations using widelyepted whole building energy modeling software, EnergyPlus. VRF systems are known for their high energy performance and thus can improve energy efficiency in buildings. To evaluate the energy performance of a VRF system, energy simulation modeling and calibration of a VRF heat pump (HP) type system is performed using the EnergyPlus program based on measured data collected from an experimental facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). In the calibration procedures, the energy simulation model is calibrated, according to the ASHRAE Guideline 14-2014, under cooling and heating seasons. After a proper calibration of the simulation model, the VRF HP system is placed in U.S. climate locations to evaluate the performance variations in different weather conditions. An office prototype building model, developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is used with the VRF HP system in this study. This study also considers net-zero energy building (NZEB) design of VRF systems with a distributed photovoltaic (PV) system. The NZEB concept has been considered as one of the remedies to reduce electric energy usages and achieve high energy efficiency in buildings. Both the VRF HP and VRF heat recovery (HR) system types are considered in the NZEB design, and a solar PV system is utilized to enable NZEB balances in U.S. climate locations by assuming that net-metering available within the electrical grid-level. In addition, this study conducts life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) of NZEBs with VRF HP and HR systems. LCCA provides present values at a given study period, discounted payback period, and net-savings between VRF HP and HR systems in U.S. climate locations. Preliminary results indicate that the simulated VRF HP system can reasonably predict the energy performance of the actual VRF HP system and reduce between 15-45% for HVAC site energy uses when compared to a VAV system in U.S. climate locations. The VRF HR system can be used to lower building energy demand and thus achieve NZEB performance effectively in some hot and mild U.S. climate locations.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-26T13:23:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 texto completo.pdf: 2879964 bytes, checksum: c3e37ecb0614aa78a57b7162a768d8c3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-06-24 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Energy has been an important economic, political and social factor in the world, especially since the second half of the twentieth century. It is crucial for economic and human development and fundamental to improve the population ́s life quality. In this context, the use of Distributed Generation (DG) of electrical energy has been increased attention, mainly from renewable sources. Despite the generation of solar PV is still considered not economically competitive, this technology has been promoted through governmental programs. Consequently, it has seen a strong growth in its use both in Brazil and in the world. In this study, we investigated the localization methods of distributed generation with energy storage from the point of view of the electrical energy distribution utilities. We chose to use the methodology described by Toledo, 2013 , based on the calculation of the general index (IG). This index is composed of technical, economic and environmental aspects. The economic aspect is composed of the line losses sub-index (IPL) and the load factor sub- index (IFC), the technical aspect of the voltage profile (IPT) sub-index and the reliability (IC) sub-index, and lastly, the environmental aspect is composed of the environmental sub-index (IAMB). In each sub-index was applied a set of weights that have options to value certain aspect. It was proposed to use the pre-selection criteria, in order to identify areas of great or minor interest to install the GD with energy storage, thereby reducing the universe of analysis. The pre - selection criteria were defined as: the distribution grid characterization, location, installation type, connection cost and load priority. For the analyzes we used the software for energy planning, Homer, and PSS ADEPT to calculate the power flow. The five distribution feeders analyzed are located in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais of the utility CEMIG. It was also analyzed the general simplified index, which is the general index less the sub-indices that depend on the calculation of the power flow, i. e., the line losses and the voltage profile. The analysis consisted of the indication of the optimal locations for the insertion of GD with energy storage. The methodology used was appropriate for the proposed goal, i. e., to determine the optimal locations for insertion of distributed generation with energy storage, from the electrical energy distribution utilities point of view. Finally, some suggestions were proposed for future work in order to improve the methodology. / Energia tem sido um dos fatores importantes para o desenvolvimento econômico, político e social ocorrido no mundo, principalmente, desde a segunda metade do século XX. É crucial para o desenvolvimento econômico e humano e fundamental para a melhoria da qualidade de vida da população. Nesse contexto, a utilização da Geração Distribuída (GD) da energia elétrica vem ganhando destaque, principalmente a advinda de fontes renováveis. Apesar da geração de energia solar fotovoltaica ser ainda considerada não competitiva economicamente, essa tecnologia vem sendo promovida por meio de programas governamentais. Consequentemente, tem se observado um forte crescimento de sua utilização tanto no Brasil como no mundo. Nesse trabalho, foram pesquisados métodos de localização da geração distribuída com armazenamento de energia do ponto de vista de concessionárias de distribuição de energia elétrica. Optou-se por utilizar a metodologia descrita por Toledo, 2013, que se baseia no cálculo do Índice Geral (IG). Esse índice é composto por aspectos técnicos econômicos e ambientais. O aspecto econômico é composto pelo sub-índice de perdas na linha (IPL) e pelo sub- índice do fator de carga (IFC), o aspecto técnico pelo sub-índice do perfil de tensão (IPT) e pelo sub-índice de confiabilidade (IC), e por último, o aspecto ambiental definido pelo sub-índice ambiental (IAMB). Em cada sub-índice foi aplicado um conjunto de pesos para que se tenham opções de valorizar determinado aspecto. Foi proposta a utilização de critérios de pré-seleção com o objetivo de identificar áreas de maior ou menor interesse para a instalação da GD com armazenamento de energia, assim diminuindo o universo de análise. Os critérios de pré-seleção foram definidos como: caracterização da rede de distribuição; localização; tipo de instalação; custo de conexão e prioridade da carga. Para as análises realizadas utilizou-se o software de planejamento energético, Homer, e o PSS ADEPT para o cálculo do fluxo de potência. Os cinco alimentadores de distribuição analisados são localizados na região metropolitana de Belo Horizonte, MG da concessionária CEMIG. Foi também analisado o índice geral simplificado, que é o índice geral menos os sub-índices que dependem do cálculo do fluxo de potência, i. e., perdas na linha e o perfil de tensão. A análise realizada consistiu de indicar locais ótimos para a inserção da GD com armazenamento de energia. A metodologia utilizada mostrou-se apropriada para o objetivo proposto, i. e., de determinar locais ótimos para a inserção da geração distribuída com armazenamento de energia, do ponto de vista de concessionárias de distribuição de energia elétrica. E por fim, foram propostas algumas sugestões para trabalhos futuros e para o aprimoramento da metodologia.