Potential for Optimization in European Power Plant Fleet Operation

Energy policy makers need information about the greenhouse gas reduction potential that could be realized by changes to the operation of the currently existing European power plant fleet to enable short-term actions. Possible measures could reduce the climate impact of the European electricity syste...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energies (Basel) 2020-02, Vol.13 (3), p.718
Main Authors: Jesse, Bernhard-Johannes, Morgenthaler, Simon, Gillessen, Bastian, Burges, Simon, Kuckshinrichs, Wilhelm
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
calliope
Carbon dioxide
Climate change
Electric power generation
Electricity
Electrode potentials
Emissions
Energy
Energy policy
energy system planning
Environmental policy
european electricity system
european power plant fleet
Greenhouse effect
greenhouse gas reduction
Greenhouse gases
Impact analysis
Industrial plant emissions
Linear programming
Optimization
Power plant operation
Power plants
power supply
stella
Systems analysis
Systems design
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Energy policy makers need information about the greenhouse gas reduction potential that could be realized by changes to the operation of the currently existing European power plant fleet to enable short-term actions. Possible measures could reduce the climate impact of the European electricity system and, additionally, be realized quickly as new investments are avoided. In this paper, the Calliope based energy system model Stella of the European electricity system is presented and used for the first time, with the goal to quantify cost and CO 2 emissions optimal operation strategies of the existing European power plant fleet. By applying the model to six scenarios the results show that the greenhouse gas emissions of the European power plant fleet could be reduced by more than 50% with little additional costs compared to today’s power generation mix. It is shown that historic power plant operation follows only economic considerations while not fully covering its climate impact. The results demonstrate to policy makers the scale of reduction potential that could be achieved by short-term actions.
ISSN:1996-1073
1996-1073
DOI:10.3390/en13030718