Status: Published
Citation: Bistline, J; Brown, M.; Siddiqui, S.; Vaillancourt, K. 2020. “Electric Sector Impacts of Renewable Policy Coordination: A Multi-Model Study of the North American Energy System.” Energy Policy.
This paper examines how renewable policy coordination can impact power sector planning in North America. As part of the Energy Modeling Forum 34 study on “North American Energy Trade and Integration,” this research uses eight energy-economic models to identify robust findings and key differences in power sector planning, costs, and emissions. Model results suggest that renewable policy coordination at regional and international levels lowers policy costs in the U.S. (by up to 20% for the stringencies examined here), but magnitudes vary by model. Important differences across models include spatial and temporal resolutions, treatment of coal and nuclear retirements, and renewables/storage cost assumptions. Renewables deployment primarily displaces generation from natural gas, though magnitudes differ across models. Nuclear retirements can increase with policy, especially with limited coordination, which creates uncertainty about magnitudes of CO2 declines. We find that limited policy coordination within countries could matter more than fragmentation across countries. Cross-border policy coordination also increases transmission investments and trade, but displaced generation varies by country and model.
Link to Journal Publication: See Energy Policy.