Value chain · CLM-1424
In plain terms
The UK's climate advisers broke the extra cost of wind and solar into parts: backup power for peak demand, wasted output and keeping spare plant running, and new power lines. They warned that the parts overlap, so they cannot simply be added up.
The claim as recorded
The Committee on Climate Change split UK system integration costs of variable renewables by driver: back-up capacity for meeting peak demand GBP 5-10/MWh; wasted generation when renewables exceed demand together with balancing (part-loaded plant), shown as one combined range of GBP 0-25/MWh; and new transmission networks GBP 0-5/MWh. It states that the categories overlap and are likely to double count, and reports as a common finding of the studies it cites that, up to a point, the main integration cost is back-up capacity at GBP 5-15/MWh.
Evidence behind this: T3: a technical annex by the UK statutory climate adviser; a synthesis of other studies, not a new model run.
Scope and limits
UK; no price year printed; per MWh of variable renewable generation. The rows are not additive: the Committee merges two of them because they overlap and says both overlap with capacity costs (Table 1 notes). The table gives no penetration level for its ranges. Built on Imperial College 2015 and UKERC 2016, not a new model. Not additive with, and not on the same basis as, CLM-1419 to CLM-1422 or CLM-1426 to CLM-1428.
What it assumes
The cost bases of Imperial College 2015 and UKERC 2016, which the table is built on (Table 1 source line).
Where it comes from
p.10 (PDF p.10), Table 1 read at a zoom 4 render, title "System integration costs by driver of cost", column Estimated cost (GBP/MWh): Meeting peak demand 5-10; one merged cell of 0-25 spanning Using available generation and Balancing requirements (e.g. reserve and response); Networks 0-5. Table notes: "There is likely to be overlap and double counting of costs, especially at higher penetrations." Source line: "CCC analysis based on Imperial College (2015)" and UKERC (2016). SRC-783 p.9: "up to a point the main integration cost is for provision of back-up capacity at £5-15/MWh".
Basis: GBP per MWh of variable renewable generation; price year not stated; real or nominal not stated.
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-021 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1424
CLM-1424, Energy Aperture, as of 2019-05.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-783
- CLM-1423The UK's climate advisers said in 2019 that fitting large amounts of wind and solar power into the grid adds roughly 10 to 25 pounds to...CLM-1425The UK's climate advisers estimated that a nearly carbon-free power system in 2050 would cost about 4 billion pounds a year more than one...