Reliable, Affordable: The Economic Case for Scaling Up Clean Energy Portfolios

Reliable, affordable: The economic case for scaling up clean energy portfolios A study comparing clean energy portfolios and natural gas for electricity generation Jan Gorski and Binnu Jeyakumar October 2019 photo: David Dodge, Green Energy Futures Reliable, affordable: The economic case for scaling up clean energy portfolios A study comparing clean energy portfolios and natural gas for electricit [...] In both cases, the clean portfolios provide the same services as the gas plant at a lower cost over the lifetime of the energy source (Figure 1). [...] The case for clean energy is even stronger: The modelling does not account for the additional benefits of grid reliability provided by the battery energy storage component of the clean Pembina Institute Reliable, affordable: The economic case for scaling up clean energy portfolios | 2 Executive summary energy portfolio. [...] There are no subsidies assumed for any technology or energy source, and while the cost of clean energy portfolios includes the cost of building transmission lines, the gas plant costs do not include the cost of any new gas pipelines that would be needed. [...] Pembina Institute Reliable, affordable: The economic case for scaling up clean energy portfolios | 7 Levelized cost of electricity (US$/MWh) Levelized cost of electricity (US$/MWh) Comparing natural gas and clean energy portfolios 1.3 Services provided by clean energy portfolios Utilities and project developers have expanded the range of services available from clean energy portfolio technologies.