10.1021/acs.est.5b04857.s001 Bandar Jubran Alqahtani Bandar Jubran Alqahtani Kyra Moore Holt Kyra Moore Holt Dalia Patiño-Echeverri Dalia Patiño-Echeverri Lincoln Pratson Lincoln Pratson Residential Solar PV Systems in the Carolinas: Opportunities and Outcomes American Chemical Society 2016 electricity penetration Duke Energy Carolinas NPP DEP Duke Energy Progress DEC region limits PV integration levels MW UC Enabling ramping capability power plants CO PV power output PV production model Residential Solar PV Systems 2016-01-08 00:00:00 Journal contribution https://acs.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Residential_Solar_PV_Systems_in_the_Carolinas_Opportunities_and_Outcomes/2076829 This paper presents a first-order analysis of the feasibility and technical, environmental, and economic effects of large levels of solar photovoltaic (PV) penetration within the services areas of the Duke Energy Carolinas (DEC) and Duke Energy Progress (DEP). A PV production model based on household density and a gridded hourly global horizontal irradiance data set simulates hourly PV power output from roof-top installations, while a unit commitment and real-time economic dispatch (UC–ED) model simulates hourly system operations. We find that the large generating capacity of base-load nuclear power plants (NPPs) without ramping capability in the region limits PV integration levels to 5.3% (6510 MW) of 2015 generation. Enabling ramping capability for NPPs would raise the limit of PV penetration to near 9% of electricity generated. If the planned retirement of coal-fired power plants together with new installations and upgrades of natural gas and nuclear plants materialize in 2025, and if NPPs operate flexibly, then the share of coal-fired electricity will be reduced from 37% to 22%. A 9% penetration of electricity from PV would further reduce the share of coal-fired electricity by 4–6% resulting in a system-wide CO<sub>2</sub> emissions rate of 0.33 to 0.40 tons/MWh and associated abatement costs of 225–415 (2015$ per ton).