Planning

Strategies for regional integration of electricity supply in West Africa

Gnansounou, E. ; Bayem, H. ; Bednyagin, D. ; Dong, J. (2007). Energy Policy, vol. 35, num. 8, 2007, p. 4142-4153

To improve peoples’ living conditions in West African countries national governments have to considerably reinforce the electricity supply infrastructures. Rehabilitation of the existing installations and construction of new power generation facilities and transmission lines require substantial resources which are tremendously difficult to raise due to the region’s specific economical and political conditions. This paper examines the long-term prospects for integrated development of the regional electricity industry and evaluates its advantages by using PLANELEC-Pro, a “bottom-up” electricity system expansion planning optimisation model. The evolution of regional electricity market is analysed on the basis of two strategies. The “autarkical” strategy consists in adequate expansion of national power generation systems and the exchanges of electricity between the countries in sub-zones. Another approach referred to as “integration” strategy is recommended in this article. It leads to fast retirement of the obsolete power plants and the integration of new investment projects at the level of whole West African sub-region. The main finding is that the regional integration strategy is capable to bring about additional benefits in terms of reduced capital expenditures, lower electricity supply cost and the enhanced system’s reliability compared to the autarkical strategy.

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Opportunity for inter-regional integration of electricity markets: the case of Shandong and Shanghai in East China

Gnansounou, E., Dong, J. (2004). Energy Policy, Volume 32, Issue 15, Pages 1737-1751

In this paper, the opportunity for the inter-regional integration of the electricity market in East China is analysed on the basis of strategies for the future expansion of the electricity generation system. We assume that during its first stage, the operational breakthrough of the electricity sector reform in China will be to achieve an economic dispatch of the generating plants. On the basis of this assumed goal a multi-region model is proposed to appraise the potential benefits of an integrated inter-regional electricity market. This model includes: propositions on design and operation of the market, electricity demand forecasting, least-cost generating system expansion. As case study, three strategies of electricity supply are assessed in two provinces: Shandong and Shanghai in East China. While Shandong is a potential electricity exporter due to availability of primary energy resources, Shanghai is an electricity importer. The strategies include: autarkical expansion of each regional system, import/export only for minimizing operation costs, integration of the system expansion for minimizing total costs including operation and investment costs. One of the findings is that building up an inter-regional integrated electricity market is profitable for both the Shanghai and Shandong regions compared with the two other strategies, if the future regulation makes it possible to insure an economic dispatch of the generating power plants.

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The strategic technology options for mitigating CO2 emissions in power sector: assessment of Shanghai electricity-generating system

Gnansounou, E. ; Dong, J. ; Bedniaguine, D. (2004). Ecological Economics , vol. 50, num. 1-2, p. 117-133

In this paper, the strategic technology options, especially the potential role of natural gas combined cycle and nuclear power plants, in mitigation of CO2 emission in electricity sector in China are assessed. We analyse the influence of different power generation technologies on CO2 emission volume and abatement cost based on energy market and electricity demand prospects, and least-cost expansion of electricity generating system. In the latter model, we take into account electricity supply quality and CO2 emission. The CO2 abatement cost is estimated in a period of time rather than the traditional abatement cost estimation performed for a target year. The proposed model is applied to the case of Shanghai Municipality in China to assess potential role of natural gas combined cycle and nuclear power plants in mitigation of CO2 emission. Impact of the baseline technology choice on CO2 abatement cost is analysed through the formulation of three scenarios. For the first one (“Baseline” scenario), it is assumed that expansion of the electricity supply system is based only on coal-fired power plants; for the second scenario, it is supposed that the decision makers have already envisaged the use of natural gas combined cycle power plants (CCPP) in addition to coal fired ones; the third scenario mixes coal-fired, natural gas CCPP and nuclear power plants. It is found that on the horizon of the study (2020), maximum CO2 emission mitigation potential of natural gas CCPPs can reach 42.4 million tons (MtCO2), whereas maximum CO2 emission reduction potential of nuclear power plants can be 298.2 MtCO2. The CO2 abatement cost estimation falls into the range from US19/tCO2 to US51/tCO2 depending on the level of imposed CO2 penalty, volume of carbon emission reduction and baseline technology choice.

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Market Oriented Planning of Power Generation Expansion using Agent-based Model

Gnansounou, E.; Dong, J. ; Pierre, S. ; Quintero, A. Presented at: IEEE PES, New York, October 10-13, 2004.

Other approaches to electricity markets analysis