It will be impossible for the United States and other countries to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions without improved and new clean energy sources. Hydrogen, which has been discussed for decades as a potential cornerstone technology, is thought by many to be critically important. Hydrogen is a clean burning fuel; can be manufactured from and used to produce low and zero-carbon energy; and is more suitable for use in certain carbon-intensive industrial applications than electrification.
Topics: NEMS, Energy Modeling, Hydrogen
Now is the time for modelers to reassess how nuclear technologies are represented in energy system models. That is the conclusion of a new OnLocation paper written for the Nuclear Innovation Alliance. This paper examines the many ways that nuclear energy, including advanced nuclear reactors, can play a significant role in meeting climate mitigation goals and makes a case for energy modelers to consider incorporating characteristics and applications for advanced reactors into their energy economic models.
Topics: Energy, NEMS, Energy Modeling, Energy Policy, Integrated Modeling, climate change, Advanced Technologies, nuclear power
OnLocation, and our parent company KeyLogic, have decades of experience studying and modeling carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology and policy. This work is highlighted in a newly published Power Magazine article, CCUS: Big Opportunity and Hard Questions.
CCUS has been portrayed by some advocates as a panacea for fossil-fired power and pilloried by critics as a dangerous diversion from serious decarbonization. The reality is more complicated than saying the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Our analysis identifies the policy issues that must be addressed for a successful CCUS rollout, and also what “success” might mean – that is, where are the likely markets for American CCUS technology.
As discussed in the article, there appears to be a consensus that CCUS is an essential part of the net-zero carbon solution. According to the IEA, CCUS is a necessary tool for use in keeping the increase in global temperatures below 2C and reaching net-zero by 2050. The Biden Administration agrees: the Council on Environmental Quality recently reported that to reach the President’s decarbonization goals the nation will “likely have to capture, transport, and permanently sequester significant quantities of carbon dioxide.”
Topics: Energy, NEMS, Energy Modeling, Environmental Regulation, Energy Policy, Integrated Modeling, Oil and Gas Production
On February 3, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its latest Annual Energy Outlook (AEO). The AEO 2021 report describes the key assumptions and results of a reference case and several alternative scenarios performed with the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS), a complex energy supply and demand model created and maintained by EIA. The scenarios provide insights into potential energy futures resulting from a range of assumptions about oil prices, oil and natural gas resources, macroeconomic levels, and renewable costs.
Topics: NEMS, Energy Modeling
OnLocation Director Frances Woodand Senior Consultant Jerome Yurchisin attended a recent AIMMS Success Series virtual webinar to present “Keeping the Lights on – Modeling the Future Energy Market in AIMMS.” The presentation describes the REStore (Renewable and Electricity Storage) Model which is a submodule of the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS) REStore is a linear programming optimization model designed and implemented by OnLocation using the AIMMS modeling platform. The model represents electricity storage and the temporal pattern of variable renewable generation (i.e., wind and solar photovoltaics).
Topics: Energy, NEMS, Energy Modeling, Environmental Regulation, Energy Policy, Integrated Modeling
