Decarbonizing China: Power System Strategies to Electrify Transportation and Building Heating with Renewable Sources

Date: 

Thursday, April 16, 2015, 4:00pm to 6:15pm

Location: 

Pierce Hall 100F, 29 Oxford St., Cambridge MA

Speaker: Chen Xinyu

CHEN Xinyu, Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard China Project, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Sponsored by China Project, Harvard Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Abstract

To fulfill targets in energy conservation and emission reductions, the Chinese government has made significant efforts to develop combined heat and power (CHP) plants, expand renewable power sources, and promote electric vehicles. These elements, however, are not always compatible with each other. Renewables—especially wind power—can be difficult to integrate into the energy system. This talk will discuss how to effectively integrate the three largest components of the energy system—power, transportation, and space heating—to better integrate renewables and lower emissions in China. For electric vehicles, the environmental impact of different electric vehicle types (public fleets and private light-duty vehicles) and charging strategies (fast or slow charging) will be analyzed based on hourly simulations that consider driving behavior and power system operations. For integrating electric power and heating systems, reconciling the conflict between intermittent wind power and inflexible CHP plants through introduction of more flexible heating technologies (heat pumps, heat storage, and electrical boilers) will be analyzed by a proposed energy system optimization model.