Existing Power Plant Decarbonization in Latvian Region

The global rise in energy demand is compelling the energy sector to reassess the transition from fossil fuel-based systems to renewable energy sources. However, the variability of non-dispatchable generation poses challenges to grid stability and to reliably meeting nighttime demand. Moreover, a seasonal shift from summer to winter production is necessary to further increase the share of renewable energy. Starting from previously developed model, the work proposes a path to decarbonize an existing power plant in Riga adopting a techno-economic optimization. Starting from a gas turbine power plant the 100 % decarbonization is achieved in different steps. The work aims to identify the optimal combination of power generation and storage technologies to supply the electricity demand of a city in the Latvian region with a peak load of 100 MW and an annual consumption of 700 GWh considering the best techno-economic solution. The decarbonisation path, proposed in Fig. 1, combines existing conventional gas-fired power plant integrated with the most cost-effective renewable generation technologies, namely photovoltaic systems and wind turbines adopted in Step 1. By this way the decarbonization reach only 35 % of the annual load and represents the actual achievement in most European country.