{"title":"Estimates of the marginal curtailment rates for solar and wind generation","authors":"Kevin Novan, Yingzi Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102930","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>As the amount of solar and wind generation capacity installed in a region grows, there will increasingly be periods during which a portion of the potential renewable generation will need to be curtailed to maintain the stability of the electric grid. Across markets worldwide, average curtailment rates for wind and solar are generally quite low, often around 3%. However, these low average curtailment rates may overstate how much renewable supply increases as a result of further increases in renewable capacity. Using historical hourly generation and curtailment data from California’s electricity market, we estimate that only 91% of the output supplied by new solar capacity goes towards increasing the state’s renewable supply — with the remaining 9% being discarded in the form of increased curtailments.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095069624000044","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BUSINESS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
As the amount of solar and wind generation capacity installed in a region grows, there will increasingly be periods during which a portion of the potential renewable generation will need to be curtailed to maintain the stability of the electric grid. Across markets worldwide, average curtailment rates for wind and solar are generally quite low, often around 3%. However, these low average curtailment rates may overstate how much renewable supply increases as a result of further increases in renewable capacity. Using historical hourly generation and curtailment data from California’s electricity market, we estimate that only 91% of the output supplied by new solar capacity goes towards increasing the state’s renewable supply — with the remaining 9% being discarded in the form of increased curtailments.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Environmental Economics and Management publishes theoretical and empirical papers devoted to specific natural resources and environmental issues. For consideration, papers should (1) contain a substantial element embodying the linkage between economic systems and environmental and natural resources systems or (2) be of substantial importance in understanding the management and/or social control of the economy in its relations with the natural environment. Although the general orientation of the journal is toward economics, interdisciplinary papers by researchers in other fields of interest to resource and environmental economists will be welcomed.