Co-hosted by the Department of Manufacturing Engineering, and the School of Management , Boston University.

Emerging Technology and Best Practices Seminar Series

Speaker: Michael Caramanis (Bio)

Title: Limits to Efficiently Utilizable Clean Energy Generation: Can Reserve Services Markets with Load Side Participation Remove these Limits?

Abstract:
Even with no attribution to the benefits from their emission free operation, wind generators have steadily but surely become cost competitive. The US can surely imitate Denmark, Germany and Spain where wind generation capacity has reached 25-30% of conventional installed capacity and provides 10-15% of electricity demand. However, the growth potential of this laudatory achievement is unfortunately limited by intrinsic constraints emanating from the fact that electricity is not storable and wind generation not dispatchable, i.e. controllable. As a result, in the absence of structural changes, the countries mentioned above will fast approach the point where the installation of additional wind generation capacity will cause such operating efficiency decreases in conventional thermal generation that the overall consumption of hydrocarbon fuels and hence CO2 emissions increase! Indeed, under the status quo, thermal generators have to balance a more volatile load net of wind generation and be subjected to additional cycling (i.e. shut downs and restarts) during nights that load is low and wind speed high! We will make the case that these limitations can be effectively removed by the creation of pervasive and ubiquitous real time reserve markets with load side participation. PJM, the largest Transmission System Operator in the US serving 400+ generation and supply companies, is implementing load side reserve service markets since June 2006 and is observing that loads offer higher reliability that conventional generators. We will additionally make the case that the advent of the electric vehicle (in its current hybrid or modified hybrid form) provides the potential for practically offering reserve and load management services that may allow hydrocarbon substitution and CO2 emission decrease levels way beyond the current limit of 5% (15% of electric energy that accounts for 33% of CO2 emissions) with an additional 15% reduction (for a total of 20%) at a not so distant future when the majority of cars and trucks are modified hybrid vehicles. This is feasible provided that ubiquitous and pervasive real time reserve markets are established. With the proof of concept already demonstrated (see for example already functioning PJM markets and currently unfolding New England ISO Pilots), what remains is the creation of the requisite cyber infrastructure and the operating intelligence for the efficient storage of hybrid batteries, both technically and economically achievable tasks.

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