1 research outputs found
Flexible NO<sub><i>x</i></sub> Abatement from Power Plants in the Eastern United States
Emission controls that provide incentives for maximizing
reductions
in emissions of ozone precursors on days when ozone concentrations
are highest have the potential to be cost-effective ozone management
strategies. Conventional prescriptive emissions controls or cap-and-trade
programs consider all emissions similarly regardless of when they
occur, despite the fact that contributions to ozone formation may
vary. In contrast, a time-differentiated approach targets emissions
reductions on forecasted high ozone days without imposition of additional
costs on lower ozone days. This work examines simulations of such
dynamic air quality management strategies for NO<sub><i>x</i></sub> emissions from electric generating units. Results from a model
of day-specific NO<sub><i>x</i></sub> pricing applied to
the Pennsylvania–New Jersey–Maryland (PJM) portion of
the northeastern U.S. electrical grid demonstrate (i) that sufficient
flexibility in electricity generation is available to allow power
production to be switched from high to low NO<sub><i>x</i></sub> emitting facilities, (ii) that the emission price required
to induce EGUs to change their strategies for power generation are
competitive with other control costs, (iii) that dispatching strategies,
which can change the spatial and temporal distribution of emissions,
lead to ozone concentration reductions comparable to other control
technologies, and (iv) that air quality forecasting is sufficiently
accurate to allow EGUs to adapt their power generation strategies