Modelling concentrated solar power (CSP) in the Brazilian energy system: A soft-linked model coupling approach

Brazil is looking for innovative alternatives to supply the country's increasing electricity demand and provide flexibility to cope with higher shares of variable renewable energy (VRE). Concentrated solar power (CSP) can help solving this double challenge. Three energy planning tools, namely MESSAGE Brazil, TIMES-TiPs-B and REMIX-CEM-B, have been combined to analyze the opportunities that CSP plants offer to the power system and to the wider energy system of the country. This work shows that CSP can be a cost-effective option under stringent mitigation scenarios. CSP can provide firm energy and dispatchable capacity in the Northeast region of Brazil, optimally complementing wind and PV generations. Moreover, CSP can offer additional flexibility to the Northeast power system of the country, especially during winter, when the hydrological period is dryer. Results show synergies between CSP and other power supply technologies with small cost differences between the baseline and CSP-forced scenarios. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.