Energy officials laid the groundwork to launch a work group focused on decarbonizing a fossil fuel resource that could become more crucial for keeping up with electricity demand amid the state’s clean energy transition.
BOSTON (SHNS) – Energy officials laid the groundwork Tuesday to launch a work group focused on decarbonizing a fossil fuel resource that could become more crucial for keeping up with electricity demand amid the state’s clean energy transition.
The recently established Office of Energy Transformation is recruiting members for the Decarbonizing the Peak Focus Area Work Group, which through next summer will analyze the status of fossil fuel “peaker” power plants and combined heat and power facilities in Massachusetts, as well as offer recommendations for slashing their carbon emissions.
People can register to participate by Oct. 15, with the group’s first meeting scheduled for November. Energy experts during a webinar Tuesday morning highlighted initial research into peaker plants, which run less than 15 percent of the year and are deployed to help ensure the electricity system stays reliable during times of high energy demand, such as on hot summer days.
“By definition, peakers are flexible or dispatchable, meaning that they can be called upon by the system operator to ramp up quickly in response to changes in system needs,” said Kevin Steinberger, director of the integrated system planning practice at Energy and Environmental Economics, Inc. (E3).
“They’re generally simple cycle combustion resources, and they often also rely on oil as a backup fuel, so that they’re still available to operate during times when the natural gas system is constrained,” Steinberger added. “However, they’re relatively low efficiency, and their occasional use of higher-emitting fuels like kerosene and fuel oil also means that peakers contribute disproportionately to climate and air pollution. So even though they don’t run very often, they do represent a large opportunity for decarbonization and other local air pollution benefits if their output can be reduced or replaced.”
Steinberger said the plants can also fill a need if a transmission line is down or congested.
Massachusetts has the opportunity to decarbonize peaker plants, which represent 15 percent of the region’s total resource capacity, said Jonathan Blair, senior managing consultant at E3. Energy experts say there are dozens of peaker plants in Massachusetts, in addition to combined heat and power facilities, another source of fossil fuel emissions that operate more frequently and at greater capacity.
The work group has partnered with plants in Pittsfield, West Springfield, Medford and Sandwich to understand the roles of the facilities in their communities and potential future uses.
“Both peakers and CHPs are important sources of reliability, but also meaningful sources of carbon emissions and other pollutants,” Blair said. “And while the commonwealth is moving toward a decarbonization strategy, these assets are going to continue to be a relatively higher emitting source against that evolving backdrop of the resource mix. Even though CHPs are most often fueled from natural gas, and we’ve discussed that that’s a cleaner option, they’re going to feel pressure as the state continues to make incremental gains on decarbonization.”
The focus on peaker plants comes amid shifts in consumer demand for electricity and when the grid will experience peak demand.
While peak demand has historically happened in the summer, ISO New England, a nonprofit that manages electricity flow across the region, expects the peak will occur in the winter by the mid-2030s, Steinberger said. Peak demand is projected to more than double by 2050, moving from a record high of 28 gigawatts to 57 gigawatts.
“The installation of heat pumps and the electrification of building heating needs will drive a shift to system peak toward the winter months,” Steinberger said, as he also attributed heightened demand to electric vehicles.
A winter peak will cause more fluctuations in electricity demand, since winter weather can come with more extreme swings compared to summer months, Steinberger said. Beyond seasonal and hourly changes in electricity demand, grid flexibility becomes more important when incorporating renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar that could have lower outputs at certain times of day, he said.
“The peak in 2050 will be quite variable depending on the weather in that year, and as a result, the region may need to hold even more capacity in reserve to ensure that the system remains reliable, even under the most severe winter weather conditions,” he said.
The work group’s initial assessment of the peaker plant and CHP landscape is scheduled for this fall and winter. In the spring and summer, the group will turn its attention to exploring and gauging how to implement alternative options, said Kate Zyla, executive director of the Georgetown Climate Center, which is guiding the work group with Harvard Law School’s Environmental and Energy Law Program.
“Threading throughout all of these phases, we expect to continue to consider issues of land use, issues of community impacts, issues of equity, issues of environmental impacts, issues of workforce,” Zyla said.