Evaluating renewable portfolio standards and carbon cap scenarios in the US electric sector

This report examines the impact of renewable portfolio standards (RPS) and cap-and-trade policy options on the U.S. electricity sector. The analysis uses the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) model that simulates the least-cost expansion of electricity generation capacity and transmission in the U.S. to examine the impact of a variety of emissions caps-and RPS scenarios both individually and combined. The generation mix, carbon emissions, and electricity price are examined for various policy combinations simulated in the modeling. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.