Shifts in national & global The long-term effects of the housing bust and the credit crunch ensure that financial markets financial markets prefer to fund low-risk projects . Private capital makes limited investments in the power industry. Shifts in the availability & prices Coal and natural gas considered problematic due to emissions concerns and worries about of commodity fuels used in the shale-oil development. Carbon tax increases and higher energy bills enable the transition to electricity sector renewables. Scenario Four - Overview of Generation Portfolio Scenario Four: Form of Power Description Direction of Change ~maintains Central Station Coal/CCS Large-scale coal-fired power long-term position generation in the large megawatt with CCS technology scale needing transmission connections/with clean carbon sequestration or recycling +increasing Central Station Gas Large-scale natural gas-fired as cost competitive generation in the large megawatt option scale needing transmission connections. -decreasing, Central Station Large-scale solar power generation at unable to compete the megawatt scale needing with other options Solar transmission connections
Shifts in national & global financial markets The long-term effects of the housing bust and the credit crunch ensure that financial markets prefer to fund low-risk projects . Private capital makes limited investments in the power industry. Shifts in the availability & prices of commodity fuels used in the electricity sector Coal and natural gas considered problematic due to emissions concerns and worries about shale-oil development. Carbon tax increases and higher energy bills enable the transition to renewables. Scenario Four - Overview of Generation Portfolio Scenario Four: Form of Power Description Direction of Change Central Station Coal/CCS Large-scale coal-fired power generation in the large megawatt scale needing transmission connections/with clean carbon sequestration or recycling ~maintains long-term position with CCS technology Central Station Gas Large-scale natural gas-fired generation in the large megawatt scale needing transmission connections. +increasing as cost competitive option Central Station Solar Large-scale solar power generation at the megawatt scale needing transmission connections -decreasing, unable to compete with other options
WECC_Scenarios.docx