Renewable transition in the power and transport sectors under the goal of carbon-neutral in Sichuan, China

Abstract

Nowadays, emission reduction becomes the main direction of energy system development. Replacing fossil fuel with renewable energy in energy sectors such as the power and transport sector serves as one of the essential measures. However, scientific gaps appear in how this renewable transition can be reached in an energy system, including the power and transport sector under the goal of “carbon neutral” in China towards 2060. Taking Sichuan province in China as an example, this study establishes the renewable transition pathways in an energy system including the power and transport sector and evaluates the feasibility of different renewable technologies in the two sectors. Three renewable scenarios based on various renewable electricity in the power sector and three renewable scenarios based on the electrification degree in the transport sector are formulated in the EnergyPLAN tool. The results show that all the renewable scenarios can reduce the emissions to zero in Sichuan in 2060, with the CO2 emissions in the business as usual (BAU) scenario reaches 135.7 Mt. Moreover, adding wind power to its maximum potential has better capacity to meet the requirement of further electrification in the transport sector than solar power in Sichuan province. From the economic perspective, all the renewable scenarios have similar energy system cost with the BAU scenario, reaching a range of 203 and 244 BCNY/y. All in all, the methodology and results in this study contribute to the policy-makers for constructing a carbon-neutral energy system.