13 Nov (NucNet): There are only two options – nuclear power and renewable energy sources – to decarbonise an ever increasing electricity sector and of those only nuclear provides “firmly dispatchable” baseload electricity because the variability of renewables requires flexible backup that is frequently provided by carbon-intensive power plants, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Nuclear Energy Agency says in a report today.
In the report, ‘Nuclear Energy: Combating Climate Change’, the NEA says global electricity demand is expected to increase strongly over the coming decades, even assuming much improved end-use efficiency. Meeting this demand while drastically reducing CO2 emissions from the electricity sector will be “a major challenge”.
Given that the once-significant expectations placed on carbon capture and storage are rapidly diminishing, and given that hydropower resources are in limited supply, there are essentially only two options for future energy systems – nuclear power and renewable energy sources such as wind and solar PV, the report says.
It says nuclear power plants do, however, face challenges due to their large upfront capital costs, complex project management requirements and difficulties in siting.
As technologies with high fixed costs, both nuclear and renewables must respond to the challenge of acquiring long-term financing, since investments in capital-intensive low-carbon technologies are unlikely to be forthcoming in liberalised wholesale markets, the report says.
“In order to substantially decarbonise the electricity systems of OECD countries, policymakers must understand the similarities, differences and complementarities between nuclear and renewables in the design of future low-carbon electricity systems,” the report says.
“The value of dispatchable low-carbon technologies, such as hydro and nuclear, for the safe and reliable functioning of electricity systems must also be recognised.”
The report says that should the decarbonisation of electricity sectors in the wake of the UN’s COP21 meeting in Paris next month become a reality, nuclear power might well be “the single most important source of electricity by 2050, thanks mainly to the contribution of non-OECD countries”.
COP21 offers the opportunity to include nuclear energy firmly in future flexibility mechanisms such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), or a potential successor in the post-2020 period. This would “enable nuclear’s full potential” to reduce climate change inducing greenhouse gas emissions, the report says.
The report is online: http://bit.ly/1MrXRCQ
