Carbon reduction potential of wind and marine energy systems and their interactions

有关生命周期碳排放的信息可以为是否投资不同类型的可再生技术或为其提供政策支持的决策提供信息。对海洋和远海上风电（如浮式风电）生命周期碳的现有评估表明，排放量明显高于更成熟的技术，如陆上风电，导致一些人质疑对这些新技术的投资是否合理[1，2，3 ]。然而，对隐含碳的生命周期评估并没有考虑到这些技术在不同时间对竞争对手的好处。当考虑电力系统的整体观点时，具有多样化的供应组合的好处是显而易见的，因此，有必要在评估生命周期影响时反映这些好处。挑战来自于现有的可再生能源系统生命周期碳估计，其重点是发电机本身的建设、维护和退役所产生的排放。这些影响通常是每单位能源生产的标准化，然后与其他技术的影响进行比较，例如化石发电或电网的平均排放量，以证明可能的碳减排潜力。这种比较可以是计算碳回收期的形式。这一步假设了新技术将取代的现有发电类型;然而，对风力发电碳排放减少的研究表明，这种假设是一个重要的近似值[4，5]。事实上，流离失所的一代在不同的日子、季节和年份中混合着变化。目的和目标本项目的主要目的是研究可再生能源多样性的环境效益，并了解这些效益是否值得在海洋和远海上风电方面进行更大的投资。这将包括：* 提供广泛的风能和海洋系统的生命周期碳（和其他环境影响）的概述 * 开发一种方法来解释不同相互作用技术的碳减排潜力 * 确定英国电网上运行的远海上风能和海洋的碳减排潜力。* 调查可再生资源的时间波动之间的相互作用，以及这些联合收割机如何与储存等技术相结合，以满足最大可能的碳减排需求。为考虑风能和海洋能源系统对碳排放的整体影响提供工具和指导方针。

Information on life-cycle carbon emissions can inform decisions on whether to invest in or provide policy support for different types of renewable technologies. Existing assessments of the life-cycle carbon of marine and far-offshore wind (such as floating wind) suggest that emissions are significantly higher than for more mature technologies, such as onshore wind, causing some to question whether investment in these new technologies is justified [1, 2, 3 ]. Life cycle assessments of embodied carbon, however, don't take into account the benefits that such technologies can provide in being available at different times to their competitors. The benefits of having a diverse supply mix are clear when considering a holistic view of the electricity system, and there is, therefore, a need to reflect such benefits in assessing the life cycle impacts.The challenge arises from existing life-cycle carbon estimates for renewable energy systems being focussed on emissions arising from the construction, maintenance and decommissioning of the generators themselves. The impacts are typically normalised per unit of energy produced and then compared with the impacts of other technologies, such as fossil generation or the average emissions of the grid, to demonstrate the likely carbon reduction potential. This comparison may be in the form of calculating the carbon payback time. This step makes an assumption about the types of existing generation that the new technology will displace; however, studies of the carbon emissions reduction of wind power have shown that such an assumption is a significant approximation [4, 5]. In reality, the displaced generation mix changes across days, seasons and years. Aims and ObjectivesThe key aim of this project is to examine the environmental benefits of diversity in renewable energy resource and understand whether these justify greater investment in marine and far-offshore wind. This will include:*Provide an overview of the life cycle carbon (and other environmental impacts) of a broad range of wind & marine systems*Develop a methodology to account for the carbon reduction potential of different interacting technologies *Identify the carbon reduction potential of far-offshore wind and marine operating on the British grid. *Investigate the interactions between temporal fluctuations in renewable resource and how these combine with technologies such as storage to meet demand with maximum possible carbon reduction.*Provide tools and guidelines for considering the holistic consequential impact on carbon emissions of wind & marine energy systems.