ABSTRACT
As the world's largest CO2 emitter, China's ability to decarbonize its energy system strongly affects the prospect of achieving the 1.5 °C limit in global, average surface-temperature rise. Understanding technically feasible, cost-competitive, and grid-compatible solar photovoltaic (PV) power potentials spatiotemporally is critical for China's future energy pathway. This study develops an integrated model to evaluate the spatiotemporal evolution of the technology-economic-grid PV potentials in China during 2020 to 2060 under the assumption of continued cost degression in line with the trends of the past decade. The model considers the spatialized technical constraints, up-to-date economic parameters, and dynamic hourly interactions with the power grid. In contrast to the PV production of 0.26 PWh in 2020, results suggest that China's technical potential will increase from 99.2 PWh in 2020 to 146.1 PWh in 2060 along with technical advances, and the national average power price could decrease from 4.9 to 0.4 US cents/kWh during the same period. About 78.6% (79.7 PWh) of China's technical potential will realize price parity to coal-fired power in 2021, with price parity achieved nationwide by 2023. The cost advantage of solar PV allows for coupling with storage to generate cost-competitive and grid-compatible electricity. The combined systems potentially could supply 7.2 PWh of grid-compatible electricity in 2060 to meet 43.2% of the country's electricity demand at a price below 2.5 US cents/kWh. The findings highlight a crucial energy transition point, not only for China but for other countries, at which combined solar power and storage systems become a cheaper alternative to coal-fired electricity and a more grid-compatible option.
ABSTRACT
Transportation investment continues to grow in aid of economic competitiveness and environmental sustainability worldwide, but limited empirical research has been conducted on the changing value of highway investment in deindustrializing economies. This study examines the influences of highway proximity and traffic on office values in Hong Kong using hedonic price analysis on 13,670 transactions around highway interchanges for 2002-2013. Our hedonic regressions, controlling for unobservable district effects and incorporating instrumental variables, reveal that the associations of highway proximity and traffic with office prices appear to exhibit mixed results across Hong Kong's three territorial divisions. The negative externalities generated by excess traffic cancel out the accessibility benefits of highway proximity on Hong Kong Island, where densely built-up office districts are suited for amenity-sensitive knowledge businesses that tend to create value-added services through face-to-face communications. By contrast, highway proximity uplifts the value of office properties with lower transportation costs and higher market accessibility in Kowloon and the New Territories, where spacious workplaces near hub-port and logistics facilities are advantageous for mobility-driven trade and transportation businesses that tend to increase value-added throughput in cross-border relations with mainland China. These territorial findings are of particular importance for progressive policymakers to deploy the strategic applications of underground bypasses, greenway creation, interchange improvement, congestion charges, and smart technology to manage mobility and alleviate disamenity, accompanied by supportive public transit services and adaptive land-use rezoning, in the dynamic and complex process of deindustrialization.