Deleted User 12/30/2010

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Now I am doing some research of energy planning of one city. In this city, there are much electricity which is imported from external areas. So how to calculate the emission of CO2 of the external electricity? In leap model, whether this part of emission have been calculated? Or not? Should I calculate that in some other way and replenish it for the LEAP model?

Tory Clark 1/4/2011
 

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Hi Jian Zhou,

Within Transformation analyses in LEAP there are different ways to set up electricity imports. You can allow LEAP to determine what imports are necessary using the module property "import to meet shortfall," however this feature does not allow you to specify environmental loadings for those imports.

I would recommend that you create a new technology under Transformation\Electricity Generation\Processes that represents the electricity imports you expect for your city. Then you will be able to add CO2 and other emission factors appropriate to the fuel mix creating that electricity.

For more information please read the user guide documentation below.

Transformation Analysis: http://tinyurl.com/34zjhjv

Imports: http://tinyurl.com/32p49v5

Please let me know if you have further questions,

Tory

Ralf Dyllick 7/24/2013
 

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Hi Tory,

I found this thread when I was looking for an answer to a question very similiar to that of Jian Zhou.

I took away from your answer that emissions cannot be properly simulated when imports are specified to fill a shortfall (gap-filling). This requires the inclusion of an extra "imports" process under the respective module.

May I ask you two follow-up question on this second option which you suggested in your answer:
* Is there a way to define a fixed, absolute import target (i.e., 1000GWh of electricity) as one can in the output fuel properties? Or would I have to model this via an appropriate specification of exogenous capacity and maximum availability? In the case of 1000GWh, this could be translated in 200MW exogenous capacity and a maximum availability of a little less than 60%. The later is a little trickier as it may interfere with the dispatch of the module.
* In order to get the emissions of this "imports" process right, would it be best to add all fuels under the feedstock fuels branch which are used to produce the electricity in the exporting region or does it make sense to create an artificial "imports" fuel so that emissions from in-region transformation can be told apart from imported out-of-region emission in the results view?

I am looking forward to your reply and thank you in advance!

Regards,
Ralf

Taylor Binnington 7/24/2013
 

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Hi Ralf,

First of all, I agree with Tory's suggestion above, if you're trying to keep track of your imported electricity separately. In that case, you would be able to specify an absolute Import Target in your 'Imported Electricity' module. Note that when you set an import target, it applies only at the level of the module, and not necessarily to that imported fuel across all branches of your tree. I think this is a much cleaner method than adjusting the availability/capacity of a that is process being run to full capacity to achieve a desired output.

To answer your second question, I think this depends only on how carefully you'd like to do your emissions accounting for your model. Keep in mind that you can always view your environmental effects, in Results view, for the Imported Electricity module only, which would correspond to the out-of-region emissions that you're looking to keep separate in your analysis.

Hope that helps,

Taylor

Ralf Dyllick 7/24/2013
 

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Hi Taylor,

thanks for your extremely swift answer.

On my second question: Absolutely, you are right. By virtue of LEAP's reporting tools, this is indeed possible and so my proposal pointless. Good to know, this saves time.

As for my first question: Do I understand you correctly that you would create a module of its own for "imported electricity" (which would sit between the demand and the electricity generation module)? I thought one would have to create an additional process/technology under the standard electricity generation module. The feedstocks of this new process/technology could then be linked to environmental loading factors which adequately models the environmental impact. What I do not understand, however, is how do I define an import target. I do not see where this can be specified in the variables of that extra process. That is why I proposed the availability/capacity tweak.

Regards,
Ralf

Taylor Binnington 7/24/2013
 

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Hi,

As it happens, too swift! I actually misunderstood what Tory had recommended in her earlier post, and neglected the issue of adding environmental loadings to imported electricity, which is the whole topic of this discussion. Apologies on both counts.

Since I missed the first time, I'll just restate your question as I'm interpreting it to make sure I understand: you want to be able to import a fixed quantity, and you want the environmental effects of those imports to be counted, which means you'd like to specify the fuel mix that provides those imports. Is that right?

In this case, I would suggest that you create a new process, under your existing electricity generation module, and call it something like 'Imported electricity'. You can add as many feedstock fuels as you like, with their associated environmental loadings and fuel shares, just like you would for any process. To fix the amount of power that it generates each year, one strategy might be to set the First Simulation Year to some year beyond your last scenario year (for the 'Imported electricity' process only), and enforce your import target through the Historical Production tab.

If you wanted to keep better track of which resources you're importing and exporting (since all feedstocks used by this method would not be distinguishable as imports), you would have to create cloned feedstock fuels to allow you to differentiate between, for example, 'Coal Bituminous' and 'Imported Coal Bituminous'.

This is what I'd call *a workaround*. You'll have to be careful when interpreting the results to make sure that you don't forget about your Imported electricity process when viewing the area Energy Balance, for example!

Taylor

Ralf Dyllick 7/25/2013
 

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Hi Taylor,

of course, the first simulation year must be set beyond the last scenario year. This is exactly the workaround I was looking for. Thank you.


Ralf