Tackling long-term climate change together: The case of flexible CCS and fluctuating renewable energy

Abstract The present study aims at shedding light into the interaction of fluctuating renewables and the operational flexibility of postcombustion capture plants in the framework of a long-term model. We developed a model of the electricity sector taking into account both long-term investment time scales to represent plant fleet development under economic and climate constraints as well as short time scales to consider fluctuations of demand and renewable energy sources. The LIMES model allows us to determine the respective roles of renewables and CCS in climate change mitigation efforts within the electricity sector. Furthermore, we assess the influence of natural gas prices on fuel choice and investigate the shares of competing CCS approaches in the technology mix. We find that the optimal technology mix includes large shares of renewables and simultaneously different competing CCS technologies, depending on emission constraints and fuel prices.