Evolving coal-fired power plant carbon dioxide emission rate intensities on U.S. electricity operating systems

Abstract

For many years, coal-fired power plant generation comprised the largest share of electricity in the U.S. power sector. While natural gas plants now constitute a greater portion of the total, coal is projected to remain a shrinking but significant component of U.S. electricity production. Natural gas-fired technologies are dispatchable and versatile generation sources, but the recent and anticipated growth of wind and solar technologies will add non-dispatchable, intermittent power generation sources to U.S. electricity grids. Numerous emissions-related benefits arise from the deployment of these technologies, but they must coexist with coal plants, many of which run most efficiently under baseload operating procedures. Historical monthly emissions data has been analyzed on a sample of coal plants to show how modified coal operations have affected plant emission rates, as measured by carbon dioxide emitted per unit of electricity output. Statistically significant correlations between plant capacity factors and emission rate intensity have been observed by the majority of the sample, showing a worsening under more sporadic operations. Since nearly all of the coal plants in the sample are generating less electricity, determining the emissions impact of operational decisions will assist policymakers as they seek to minimize total system emissions without severe disruptions to electricity cost and service reliability.