The riddle of the sands: C02 emissions reduction and California's renewables portfolio

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorvan Kooten, G. Cornelis
dc.date.accessioned2026-03-12T21:25:32Z
dc.date.available2026-03-12T21:25:32Z
dc.date.issued2025
dc.description.abstractDevelopment of nuclear energy in northern Alberta has been proposed as a means of reducing the environmental costs of oilsands extraction; rather than open-pit mining, steam from nuclear power plants would be used for in situ extraction of petroleum. Such development could be facilitated by the export of electricity to California, thereby facilitating achievement of the State's legislative target that 60 % of electricity come from renewable sources by 2030 and 100 % by 2045. Using a policy-oriented, grid allocation model and projections of future power requirements in California, this study determines whether there is indeed potential for Alberta to export carbon-free electricity to California to the benefit of both jurisdictions. We find that doing so could reduce California's CO2 emissions in the electricity sector by some 70 to 85 %. However, if California decided to rely more on in-house generation of nuclear power, the market available to Alberta would be constrained by the extent to which the State exploits nuclear capacity. It is also constrained by the extent to which the load profile can be altered and the ability to exploit wind and solar regimes that differ from those currently used to generate power.
dc.description.reviewstatusReviewed
dc.description.scholarlevelFaculty
dc.description.sponsorshipNatural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
dc.identifier.citationVan Kooten, G. C. (2025). The riddle of the sands: C02 emissions reduction and California�s renewables portfolio. Applied Energy, 384, 125475. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.125475
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.125475
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/23487
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherApplied Energy
dc.rightsCC BY
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectfuture electricity demand
dc.subjectCalifornia policy
dc.subjectAlberta oilsands
dc.subjectnuclear energy
dc.subjectability to alter load and intermittent energy profiles
dc.subject.departmentDepartment of Economics
dc.titleThe riddle of the sands: C02 emissions reduction and California's renewables portfolio
dc.typeArticle

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
vanKooten_gcornelis_applEnergy_2025.pdf
Size:
661.4 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download

Collections

Faculty and Staff Publications
 
University of Victoria Libraries

We acknowledge and respect the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Esquimalt) Peoples on whose territory the university stands, and the Lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.