The Power of Change Innovation for Development and Deployment of Increasingly Clean Electric Power Technologies (2016) / Chapter Skim
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5 Addressing the Unique Challenges to the Development and Deployment of Nuclear Power, Carbon Capture and Storage, and Renewable Fuel Power Technologies
5 Addressing the Unique Challenges to the Development and Deployment of Nuclear Power, Carbon Capture and Storage, and Renewable Fuel Power Technologies
Pages 113-152
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From page 113... ...
Unfortunately, the current portfolio of cleaner power generation technologies is generally not pricecompetitive with established technologies such as natural gas- and coal-fired power plants, in part because pollution externalities are not fully incorporated into energy prices, limiting the incentives for the deployment of clean energy technologies (see Chapter 2)
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From page 114... ...
Given the role nuclear power is already playing as a major source of low-carbon electricity generation and the potential for advanced nuclear technologies to expand this role in the future, the committee believes that serious consideration of improving the environment for nuclear innovation is warranted, and offers recommendations in this section as a means to that end. Nuclear energy also is facing stiff headwinds elsewhere in the world.
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From page 115... ...
Aside from these five plants, however, there are no firm plans to build any more nuclear power plants in the United States to replace the existing nuclear fleet with new nuclear capacity, and the nation has no strategy for sustaining, let alone expanding, nuclear energy generation. Five operating reactors have recently closed or will soon do so.
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From page 116... ...
According to a recent report of the Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project, a collaborative global initiative to explore how individual countries can reduce their GHG emissions, achieving the 80 percent mitigation target by 2050 would require almost complete decarbonization of the U.S. electricity sector, together with switching a large share of end uses from direct combustion of fossil fuels to electricity or fuels produced from electricity (Williams et al., 2014)
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From page 117... ...
In its "New Policies" scenario, the IEA projects an increase of 60 percent in world nuclear generating capacity to 624 GW by 2040, with the share of nuclear power in global electricity generation increasing slightly to 12 percent at that time (IEA, 2014)
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From page 118... ...
But technological innovations in nuclear power plants and the nuclear fuel cycle may also be necessary to realize the potential of nuclear energy. Innovators seeking to commercialize new nuclear technologies in the United States face formidable obstacles, however.
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From page 119... ...
These initiatives range from incremental improvements in current light water reactor technologies to the development of alternative reactor systems with different types of fuel and coolant and different approaches to siting, construction, operation, and waste management, including sodiumcooled, gas-cooled, and molten salt-cooled reactors (see, e.g., Buongiorno et al., 2015; Forsberg et al., 2014; Hejzlar, 2013; Nathan, 2013; NuScale Power, 2013; Rawls et al., 2014)
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From page 120... ...
The current nuclear plant licensing framework, administered primarily by U.S. NRC, is tailored to light water reactor technology.
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From page 121... ...
NRC staff have identified a number of specific technical and policy issues that would be associated with the licensing of advanced reactors, 6 and in 2012 the agency produced a report requested by Congress addressing its overall strategy for preparing for the licensing of advanced non-light water reactors (U.S.
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From page 122... ...
. In addition, given widespread expectations of a prolonged period of ample natural gas supplies at relatively low prices, most electric power companies currently have little interest in developing and deploying alternative technologies for central station baseload generation.
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From page 123... ...
NRC, on an accelerated basis, should prepare for a rulemaking on the licensing of advanced nuclear reactors that would establish (1) a risk informed regulatory pathway for considering advanced non-light water reactor technologies, and (2)
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From page 124... ...
Given the scale of capital required and the technological complexity of next-generation nuclear technologies, a dedicated facility capable of supporting private-party initiatives to test and demonstrate innovative nuclear technologies would be of particular benefit. Thus, a dedicated nuclear test bed would be a key component of the Technology Test Bed and Simulation Network proposed in Chapter 3.
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From page 125... ...
The federal government should move to implement the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future, which lay out a comprehensive and practical approach to nuclear waste management. Finding 5-3: The development of advanced nuclear technologies is very costly.
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From page 126... ...
One such approach would entail the establishment of Regional Innovation Demonstration Funds, as described in Chapter 3. Lastly, the potential benefits of both magnetic and inertial confinement fusion are great, and significant technical advances continue to be made, even though progress has been slower than expected, and commercialization remains a distant prospect.
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From page 127... ...
This section examines the role CCS could play in the future global power generation sector; the status of CCS power-sector projects around the world; the range of market and nonmarket barriers to CCS; and discrete, implementable actions the federal government can take to support CCS technology development and deployment. The Role of Carbon Capture and Storage in the Future Global Electricity Portfolio The development of CCS technologies for fossil fuel-based electricity generating stations through research, successful technology demonstration, and eventual deployment at scale is an important component of an overall strategy for achieving an increasingly clean energy sector.
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From page 128... ...
. BP's Energy Outlook 2035 projects that fossil fuels will make up more than 60 percent of primary energy inputs to power generation in 2035 (BP, 2014)
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From page 129... ...
, technologies for drastically reducing emissions, such as CCS, will remain critical given the relatively high carbon content of natural gas compared with alternative fuels (e.g., renewables, nuclear)
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From page 130... ...
. In 2014, the Boundary Dam Integrated Carbon Capture and Storage Demonstration Project near Estevan, Saskatchewan, in Canada commenced operations to become the world's first large-scale CCS project for power generation, with a CO2 capture capacity of 1 million tons per annum (Mtpa)
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From page 131... ...
The true costs of the latter are often higher because of the need for backup generation, storage, or other methods of dealing with their intermittency and variability. Even when various externalities are considered, both coal- and natural gas-fired power generation technologies with CCS technology still exhibit higher LCOEs than those without CCS.
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From page 132... ...
. Another major obstacle to the development and deployment of CCS is the current lack of a uniform regulatory framework for managing the access to and use of underground pore space, siting and constructing CO2 pipelines, permitting or licensing storage activities on federal lands, and managing the long-term stewardship of closed injection sites (MIT, 2007)
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From page 133... ...
. Given the centrality of the cost differentials between coal- and natural gasfired power plants with CCS and other clean power generation technologies, there are several actions the government can take to increase the competitiveness of cleaner fossil fuel power generation.
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From page 134... ...
A limited number of targeted production tax credits could be offered to a pioneer tranche of natural gas-fired power plants employing carbon capture technologies. Such credits could be offered using both a reservation system (to assure project financiers that the credit could be used by the plant when built)
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From page 135... ...
These would best be narrowly and uniquely structured tax incentives for private-sector innovation at every stage, from R&D to construction of fossil fuel-fired power plants equipped with CCS. They could include Pioneer Project Credits for natural gas-fired power generation with CCS, CO2/Enhanced Oil Recovery Credits, and tax-exempt bond financing.
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From page 136... ...
Congress needs to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for the transport and safe geologic storage of CO2. Such a framework would include two key components.
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From page 137... ...
RENEWABLE FUEL POWER-GENERATING TECHNOLOGIES 19 The Role of Renewables in an Increasingly Clean Energy Future Nearly every model and forecast of an increasingly clean energy system includes an expanding role for renewable electricity generation. Wind and solar tend to dominate the renewable portion of these forecasts, but other renewable sources, such as hydro (small, large, low-head)
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From page 138... ...
These characteristics attract investment and attention around the world. Current Challenges for Renewable Energy Renewables have seen impressive cost declines in recent years, but the electricity they produce still generally costs more than most electricity generated from fossil fuels, particularly natural gas, in the United States.
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From page 139... ...
, the lack of sufficient transmission capacity to move electricity generated from renewable resources to distant demand centers, and the lack of sustained policies. According to the National Research Council (2010a, p.
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From page 140... ...
In addition, the report includes only renewable technologies commercially available as of 2010. The authors also assume that grid technologies would improve system operations to "enhance flexibility in both electricity generation and end-use demand" (p.
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From page 141... ...
markets. Global corporations increasingly see renewable generation technologies addressing global markets, with opportunities to site multiple manufacturing facilities close to major market
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From page 142... ...
In Colorado, for example, Xcel Energy in 2013 issued a broad "all source" solicitation so it could consider the most competitive proposals for wind, solar, and other resources, including natural gas. Xcel selected a diverse portfolio that would add 317 MW of natural gas, combined with 450 MW of wind and 170 MW of solar.
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From page 143... ...
Finding 5-8: Consistent siting, streamlined permitting, clear and responsive interconnection processes and costs, training in installation best practices, and reductions in other soft costs can have a significant impact on lowering the cost of solar and other distributed generation renewable technologies. Recommendation 5-6: DOE and national laboratory programs should provide technical support to states, cities, regulators, and utilities for identifying and adopting best practices -- such as common procurement methods, soft cost reduction approaches, PPA contracts, structures for subsidies and renewable energy certificates, and common renewables definitions (taking into account regional resources)
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From page 144... ...
22 Approximately 46 GW of new renewable generating capacity had been developed in these 29 states by the end of 2012, equaling two-thirds of all nonhydro renewable electricity generation capacity additions in the United States since 1998 (Heeter et al., 2014)
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From page 145... ...
27 REC purchases in competitive retail markets and utilityreported purchase costs in other cases have been small relative to total utility revenue. Most RPS policies include a cost containment mechanism: either a cap on total compliance costs as a percentage of average retail rates or an alternative compliance payment.
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From page 146... ...
RPSs subsidize renewable resources and bring additional resources with low variable operating costs into energy markets. If there is a sufficient upward slope in the supply curve for generation, displacing higher-cost resources (and potentially lowering demand for the fuel serving those generation resources)
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From page 147... ...
RPSs treat all renewable generation equivalently, as if all renewable generation sources displaced comparable nonrenewable sources and had an equivalent net emissions impact. They lower the cost of selected clean energy technologies, but do not incorporate the social costs of carbon and other environmental externalities into the price of polluting resources, potentially distorting price signals for both consumers and other market participants (Borenstein, 2012; Nordhaus, 2013)
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From page 148... ...
Greater reliance on renewable resources might help Western Europe reduce imports of natural gas or help California limit cooling water requirements. However, greater reliance on renewables also could increase dependence on imported rare earth elements.
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From page 149... ...
Another principle for federal and state renewable policies involves appropriate regulatory and financing structures for projects with differing scales: • Small, distributed generation projects (such as rooftop solar) reduce but are unlikely to economically eliminate owners' purchases of electricity in retail markets.
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From page 150... ...
Effective federal, state, and local policies need to be consistent with growing market signals that look out at least 5 years to encourage investment in innovation and development that will continue to bring down costs. Financing Reducing the cost of capital for renewable and clean energy projects is an important component of leveling the playing field.
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From page 151... ...
NUCLEAR, CCS, AND RENEWABLES 151 Utility Adoption Issues/Barriers Chapter 6 reviews challenges associated with the regulatory structure of the electric power industry. Utilities play critical roles in the deployment of renewables, but current business models for utilities tend to be insufficient for adequately incentivizing the adoption of renewables.
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