Abstract
With more and more renewable energy sources (RES) going into power grids, the balancing of supply and demand during peak times will be a growing challenge due to the inherent intermittency and unpredictable nature of RES. Grid level batteries can store energy when there is excess generation from wind and solar and discharge it to meet variable peak demand that is traditionally supplied by combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plants. This paper assesses the potential of battery storage to replace CCGT in responding to variable peak demand for current and future energy scenarios (FES) in the UK from technical and environmental perspectives. Results from technical analysis show that batteries, assuming size is optimised for different supply and demand scenarios proposed by the National Grid, are able to supply 6.04%, 13.5% and 29.1% of the total variable peak demand in 2016, 2020 and 2035, respectively while CCGT plants supply the rest of the demand. Particularly, to phase out CCGT variable generation from the UK grid in 2035, electricity supply from wind and solar needs to increase by 1.33 times their predicted supply in National Grid's FES. The environmental implications of replacing CCGT by batteries are studied and compared through a simplified life cycle assessment (LCA). Results from LCA studies show that if batteries are used in place of CCGT, it can reduce up to 87% of greenhouse gas emissions and that is an estimated 1.98 MtCO2 eq. for an optimal supply, 29.1%, of variable peak demand in 2035.
Highlights
Electricity and heat generation accounts for 25% of global green house gas (GHG) emissions [1]
The aim of this study are: i) to determine the amount of variable peak demand that can be supplied by renewable energy powered battery storage based on current supply and demand and in the future for the UK, ii) to analyse the amount of renewable energy sources (RES) generation and storage needed to phase out programmable gas power generation during periods of peak demand, and iii) to assess the environmental implications of replacing cycle gas turbine (CCGT) with batteries through life cycle assessments (LCA) of both tech nologies
This study investigated the potential of grid-scale battery (Li-ion) for offsetting CCGT variable peak electricity demand and its life cycle environmental and health impacts in the UK
Summary
Electricity and heat generation accounts for 25% of global green house gas (GHG) emissions [1]. RES, e.g. wind and solar, have limited challenges with waste disposal and environ mental pollution, but create other operational issues such as non-programmability and mismatch in supply and demand. In spite of these challenges, the projected generation of UK RES will increase from 101 TWh in 2017 to 192 TWh in 2035 by accounting for 52% of the UK’s total electricity generation [6]. With this new energy mix, the UK power grid requires substantial dispatchable assets, such as energy storage, to handle unpredictable energy variations
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