Coal power flexibility, energy efficiency and pollutant emissions implications in China: A plant-level analysis based on case units

Coal power in China: A multi‐level perspective review

“…Such settings determine coal power as one component of a multifaceted effort to update large‐scale VRE integration, ultimately to low‐carbon power transition. This merits the attention that the flexible operation of coal power units will incur additional cost and more pollutant discharge (Dong et al, 2018).…”

“…The potential impacts and evolutions of coal power policies, as a major research branch, range the quantifiable indicators such as air pollutant discharge regulation (Guo, Guo, & Yuan, 2014; Ji, Li, & Wang, 2017), carbon emissions performance regulation (Liu, Zhang, Yao, & Yuan, 2017; Zhang, Bo, Zhao, & Nielsen, 2019), green dispatch (Li, Song, & Shen, 2019; Wei et al, 2018; Yin, Zhang, Andrews‐Speed, & Li, 2017), industrial policies (Li et al, 2020; Na, Yuan, Xu, & Hu, 2015; Shi, Rioux, & Galkin, 2018; Zhou et al, 2019), energy efficiency promotion (Li, Patiño‐Echeverri, & Zhang, 2019), long‐distance transmission benefits (Peng et al, 2017), tax policies (Song, Bi, Wu, & Yang, 2017), coal power subsidy (Yuan et al, 2019), and supply‐side structural reforms in coal power (Yuan, Zhang, Guo, Ai, & Zheng, 2019). Another interesting subject on coal power technology is about the flexibility retrofit to integrate renewable energy (Dong, Jiang, Liang, & Yuan, 2018; Na et al, 2019; Na, Yuan, Zhu, & Xue, 2018). The studies on generation economics and external environmental cost of coal power directly portray the profit loss of generators posed by internal and external pressures (Du & Mao, 2015; Wang, Wang, Zhu, & Li, 2018; Yuan et al, 2017; Zhao et al, 2017; Zhao et al, 2017).…”

Physicochemical characterization of bituminous carbons from the Colombian Caribbean region

“…4a and 4b), we observed that coal from Cerrejón to reach the peak of primary reaction needs 1833 J/g of heat, whereas coal from La Loma needs 242.3 J/g much less than coal from the Cerrejón; we can also observe that the coal of the Cerrejón needs 11301 J/g and the material of the La Guajira 12886 J/g, a close value between both. The coal of the La Loma has approximately 5% ash, higher than that of the Cerrejón, therefore it will have much more intense mineral bands [12]. The ashes allow us to define the quality of the coal in the combustion process when determining the content of incombustible material present [13]; therefore it will have higher costs of handling and treatment.…”

Reducing cycling costs in coal fired power plants through power to hydrogen

“…Nowadays FFPP operate in cycling mode with frequent start-ups/shut-downs and continuous load variations to meet demand [7]. This kind of operation does not only deteriorate the equipment [8e10] but also causes drops in energy efficiency and increment in CO 2 emissions [11]. Although the additional emissions are negligible with regards to the CO 2 reduction related to the savings in fossil fuel consumption (~45%), important economic penalties are derived from the increased number of start-ups under high variable renewable energy penetration (from around 0.6 to about 1 US$/MWh) [12].…”