Intermittency and the Value of Renewable Energy
研究了太阳能间歇性带来的社会成本，以亚利桑那州东南部为例，量化了大规模可再生能源的经济价值，发现20%太阳能发电的社会成本为每兆瓦时138.4美元，其中不可预测的间歇性占6.1美元。
A key problem with solar energy is intermittency: solar generators only produce when the sun is shining. This adds to social costs and also requires electricity sys-tem operators to reoptimize key decisions with large-scale renewables. We develop a method to quantify the economic value of large-scale renewable energy. We estimate the model for southeastern Arizona. Not accounting for offset CO2, we find social costs of $138.4/MWh for 20 % solar generation, of which unforecastable intermittency accounts for $6.1 and intermittency overall for $46. With solar installation costs of $1.52/W and CO2 social costs of $39/ton, 20 % solar would be welfare neutral.