Multi-regional power generation expansion planning with air pollutants emission constraints

Abstract

Air pollution has become a severe problem in the world. The power sector accounts for a large percentage of air pollutants emissions and has large emission reduction potential due to its centralized emissions. In order to find a cost-effective development pathway for the power sector to realize emission reduction, a multi-regional power generation expansion planning model is proposed in this paper and China is used for a case study. The model integrates air pollutants emission constraints, multi-regional interconnected power system and hourly power scheduling. Detailed regional characteristics and Ultra-High-Voltage (UHV) power transmission lines among regions in China are included whilst the power scheduling process is incorporated on an hourly basis. The scenario analysis shows that existing actions including the planned long-distance UHV power transmission lines and the corresponding coal plants groups in resource-rich regions would significantly help to reduce emissions in load-centered regions and realize the national emission reduction target. However, building coal plants groups in resource-rich regions for power exports turns out to be pollution transfer and cause their emissions to exceed local environmental carrying capacity. Regional power generation expansion planning incorporating regional environmental carrying capacity constraints presents a solution to this problem of unbalanced regional emission reduction. The result shows that substituting 68.4 GW of planned coal plants with renewable energy power plants in resource-rich regions for power exports could control the emissions in all regions to lower than local environmental carrying capacity.