The impacts of market reform on the market penetration of natural gas-fired electricity and renewable energy in China

Natural gas-fired electricity(NGFE) is expected to play a more important role in the future due to its characteristics of low pollution, high efficiency and flexibility. However, its development in China is impeded by its high regulation price compared with coal power. Market reform is therefore of vital importance to promote the penetration of NGFE. The objective of this study is to analyze the impacts of market reform and the renewable electricity(RE) subsidy policy on the promotion of NGFE and RE. A dynamic game-theoretic model is developed to analyze the interaction among the NG supplier, the power sector and the power grid. Three scenarios are proposed with different policies, including a fixed regulation price of NG and electricity, real-time pricing(RTP) of NG and electricity, and subsidy targeted at RE. The results show that:(1) market reform can sharply decrease the NG price and consequently promote the development of NGFE and RE;(2) subsidy targeted at RE not only promotes the penetration of NGFE and RE, but also increases the utilization ratio of renewables significantly;(3) market reform and the subsidy also enhance consumers’ welfare by reducing their power consumption expenditure.

Atmospheric Dry Deposition in the Proximity of Oil-Fired Power Plants at Mexican Pacific Coast

Dry deposition samples were collected in a weekly basis during 2010 in a site located at the Mexican Pacific Coast: Manzanillo, Colima. Samples were collected with an automatic wet/dry deposition sampler using nylon filters as surrogate surfaces. Samples were extracted with deionized water and analyzed for pH, conductivity, Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, NH4-, NO3-, SO42- and Cl-. Nitrate and sulfate were the most abundant ions, contributing with 53% to the total ionic mass;and their levels exceeded the hemispheric background concentrations proposed for marine remote sites. The influence of the power plants burning combustoleo located upwind the sampling site was completely evident. From meteorological analysis, it could be observed that the sampling site was all time under the influence of power plants as a result of the effect of breezes. However, in spite of the high levels of NO3- and SO42- found in the samples collected, pH value average was almost neutral, with 28% of samples slightly acid. Potassium was the most abundant cation and from the quantification of the neutralization effect of the main alkaline components, the prevalence role of K+ was completely evident, suggesting the influence of the mining complex Pe?a Colorada located upwind the sampling site, where amyl xanthate potassium is used as collector in tailing dams. Dry deposition fluxes were estimated for all ions measured. Nitrogen dry deposition at Manzanillo is already in the upper extreme of the threshold value reported for sensible ecosystems. On the other hand, sulfur deposition exceeded slightly the critical load value reported for some ecosystems in Europe. Even at this moment, nitrogen and sulfur deposition is not a problem, it is necessary to take steps to avoid that total deposition of these elements exceeds critical loads, considering that results reported in this study not include the wet deposition fluxes.

Effect of Carbon Price Floor on Levelised Cost of Gas-Fired Generation Technology in the UK

The UK government implements carbon price floor to provide long-term incentive to invest in low-carbon technology, thus, fossil-fuel power plants have to face increasing carbon price. This report addresses the effect of carbon price floor on levelised cost of gas-fired generation technology through the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) ap-proach with the estimation of carbon price floor. Finally, the comparison of levelised cost of electricity for all generation technology in the UK will be shown and discussed.

Comparative investigation of coal-and oil-fired boilers based on emission factors,ozone and secondary organic aerosol formation potentials of VOCs

Volatile organic compounds(VOCs)are the important precursors of the tropospheric ozone(O3)and secondary organic aerosols(SOA),both of which are known to harm human health and disrupt the earth’s climate system.In this study,VOC emission factors,O3 and SOA formation potentials were estimated for two types of industrial boilers:coal-fired boilers(n=3)and oil-fired boilers(n=3).Results showed that EVOCs concentrations were more than nine times higher for oil-fire d boilers compared to those for coal-fired boilers.Emission factors ofΣVOCs were found to be higher for oil-fired boilers(9.26-32.83 mg-VOC/kg)than for coal-fired boilers(1.57-4.13 mg-VOC/kg).Alkanes and aromatics were obtained as the most abundant groups in coal-fired boilers,while oxygenated organics and aromatics were the most contributing groups in oil-fired boilers.Benzene,n-hexane and o-ethyl toluene were the abundant VOC species in coal-fired boiler emissions,whereas toluene was the most abundant VOC species emitted from oil-fired boilers.O3 and SOA formation potentials were found 12 and 18 times,respectively,higher for oil-fired than for coal-fired boilers.Total OFP ranged from 3.99 to 11.39 mg-O3/kg for coal-fired boilers.For oil-fired boilers,total OFP ranged from 36.16 to 131.93 mg-O3/kg.Moreover,total secondary organic aerosol potential(SOAP)ranged from 65.4 to 122.5 mg-SOA/kg and 779.9 to 2252.5 mg-SOA/kg for the coal-fired and oil-fired boilers,respectively.

Experimental Analysis on Influencing Factors of NO_(x)emission in Gas-Fired Heating and Hot Water Combi-Boilers

To study the influencing factors of NO_(x)emission in gas-fired heating and hot water combi-boilers,a boiler with the maximum heat input of 26.0 k W was selected,and influencing factors including flue restrictor diameter,fan power,nozzle aperture,nozzle ejection distance and air relative humidity on NO_(x)formation were determined.The NO_(x)test rig has been built and the concentration of NO_(x)at the rated heat input and the NO_(x)weight value(NO_(x))_(pond)with different heat input in the dry flue gas have been tested respectively according to the test methods in Chinese national standard GB 25034-2010.The results show that with the increase of the diameter of flue restrictor at exhaust outlet,the NO_(x)concentration at the rated heat input and the NO_(x)weight value(NO_(x))_(pond)with different heat input in the dry flue gas decreased by 26.9%and 5.9%;with the increase of the diameter of flue restrictor at air intake inlet,the NO_(x)and(NO_(x))_(pond)decreased by 36.5%and 16.0%;with the increase of fan power,the NO_(x)and(NO_(x))_(pond)can be decreased by 48.4%and 16.1%;with the increase of ejection distance of nozzle,the NO_(x)and(NO_(x))_(pond)decreased by 7.7%and 6.8%;with the increase of aperture of nozzle,the NO_(x)and(NO_(x))_(pond)increased by 5.2%and 2.3%;with the increase of air relative humidity,the NO_(x)decreased by 16.4%and the(NO_(x))_(pond)basically remains unchanged.The analysis of the influence factors of NO_(x)emission can be provided as reference for the optimization design of combi-boilers with low NO_(x)emission.

Optimal Location Allocation Strategy of Gas-fired Unit in Transmission Network

The gas-fired generation has recently become an important power source for power systems.The increasing integration of gas-fired units(GFUs)brings a problem of location allocation strategy for power system planners.This paper proposes a bi-level maximum-minimum optimal placement model of GFUs to improve the static voltage stability in the transmission network.In the first stage,the locations of installed GFUs are optimized to improve the static voltage stability margin.The optimal installed capacity of GFUs is determined to minimize the operation costs and power losses in the second stage.The proposed mixed-integer nonlinear programming(MINLP)model is solved by second-order cone programming relaxations.Numerical results in the IEEE 118-bus test system demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method and the static voltage stability can be improved.

Analysis of Influencing Factors on NO_x emission in Gas-Fired Heating and Hot Water Combi-Boilers Based on Orthogonal Method

In order to determine the sensitivity of influencing factors on NOx emission in gas-fired heating and hot water combi-boilers,the orthogonal method was adopted in this paper.Five predominant factors affecting the formation of NOx and four levels were selected to be analyzed,including the diameter of flue restrictor,power of fan,ejection distance of nozzle,aperture of nozzle and relative humidity of air.The test plan was designed by employing L16(45)orthogonal array,and 16 groups of experiments were conducted.The test results were analyzed with range analysis and variance analysis.The results indicated that the power of fan has the greatest influence on the formation of NOx of the gas-fired combi-boilers,followed by the diameter of flue restrictor and the relative humidity of air,while the ejection distance of nozzle and aperture of nozzle have little effect on the formation of NOx.In addition,with the selected optimal combination of five factors,a minimum NOx volume fraction is obtained,which confirms the superiority of the orthogonal test.The research finding has a certain guiding significance for the reduction of NOx formation of gas-fired heating and hot water combi-boiler.

Impact of increased renewables on natural gas markets in eastern United States

This paper explores the market structures of natural gas and electricity as well as the interdependence of natural gas prices and bids with increasing reliance on natural gas as the penetration of renewable energy resources increases in order to complement their intermittencies. In particular, the paper will attempt to answer the following two questions: What could the generation mix look like in 2030 with a renewable-rich generation landscape and how could this impact gas prices? How do gasfired generator(GFG) generation volatility, their prices,and their bids for gas change between 2015 and 2030 with increased penetration of renewables? In order to answer these questions, computational models are derived using forecasting and regression analysis tools and an auction model.