Can Distributed Intermittent Renewable Generation Reduce Future Grid Investments? Evidence from France

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Astier, Nicolas; Rajagopal, Ram; Wolak, Frank A.
• 署名单位: Institut Polytechnique de Paris; Ecole des Ponts ParisTech; Paris School of Economics; Stanford University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1542-4766
• DOI: 10.1093/jeea/jvac045
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 367-412
• 关键词: constraints; INEQUALITY; energy

摘要

This paper estimates the relationship between investments in five distributed generation technologies and hourly net withdrawals from over 2,000 electricity distribution networks in France between 2005 and 2018. We find that investments in distributed wind and solar generation have little or no impact on the annual peak of hourly net withdrawals from the distribution grid, while investments in hydroelectric and thermal distributed generation significantly reduce it. An optimistic analysis of the impact of investments in battery storage suggests that high levels are required for distributed wind and solar to deliver similar reductions in the annual peak of hourly net withdrawals. Our results imply that public policies favoring distributed wind and solar generation over utility-scale generation cannot be rationalized by savings in future grid investments.