High Electricity Demand in the Northeast U.S.: PJM Reliability Network and Peaking Unit Impacts on Air Quality

Abstract

On high electricity demand days, when air quality is often poor, regional transmission organizations (RTOs), such as PJM Interconnection, ensure reliability of the grid by employing peak-use electric generating units (EGUs). These "peaking units" are exempt from some federal and state air quality rules. We identify RTO assignment and peaking unit classification for EGUs in the Eastern U.S. and estimate air quality for four emission scenarios with the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model during the July 2006 heat wave. Further, we population-weight ambient values as a surrogate for potential population exposure. Emissions from electricity reliability networks negatively impact air quality in their own region and in neighboring geographic areas. Monitored and controlled PJM peaking units are generally located in economically depressed areas and can contribute up to 87% of hourly maximum PM2.5 mass locally. Potential population exposure to peaking unit PM2.5 mass is highest in the model domain's most populated cities. Average daily temperature and national gross domestic product steer peaking unit heat input. Air quality planning that capitalizes on a priori knowledge of local electricity demand and economics may provide a more holistic approach to protect human health within the context of growing energy needs in a changing world.

Differences in Fine Particle Chemical Composition on Clear and Cloudy Days

“…Sulfate is traditionally considered dominant in determining absolute ALW mass concentrations in this region, and sulfate mass fraction is highest in summer (Carlton and Turpin, 2013;Gasparini et al, 2006). Similar to other regions of the CONUS, SO 4 2mass concentrations are greatest during summertime Clear Sky conditions due to transport (Parworth et al, 2015), increased rates of photochemistry (Stone et al, 2012), and increased electricity sector emissions during heat waves and stagnation events (Appel et al, 2011;Farkas et al, 2016), which generally occur on sunny days.…”

“…5, Table S5). Higher Clear Sky SO 4 2concentrations during summertime are associated with heat waves and stagnation events, which are characterized by a lack of ventilation in high pressure systems (Jacob and Winner, 2009;Wang and Angell, 1999) and higher electricity demand (Farkas et al, 2016) associated with emissions that form sulfate. TOC mass concentrations are nearly always higher during Clear Sky times than Cloudy (Fig.…”

The potential effects of climate change on air quality across the conterminous US at 2030 under three Representative Concentration Pathways

“…Modeled pollutant concentrations are highly sensitive to lateral chemical boundary conditions (e.g., Tang et al, 2007;Katragkou et al, 2010;Schere et al, 2012), and different assumptions regarding changes in long-range transport have been shown to have a significant impact on future pollutant levels (Nolte et al, 2008;Colette et al, 2013;Pfister et al, 2014;Gonzalez-Abraham et al, 2015;He et al, 2016;Zhang et al, 2016). Several previous studies have also highlighted the importance of rising levels of methane for ozone chemistry (Fiore et al, 2002;West and Fiore, 2005;Nolte et al, 2008). To isolate the effects of climate change on air quality, only the meteorological conditions and the meteorologically dependent emissions that are modeled within CMAQ were modified between the historical and future CMAQ simulations.…”

“…To investigate changes over the entire annual cycle, regional monthly box plots of MDA8 O 3 , simulated for the historical period and the RCP8.5 simulation, are compared in While most previous studies of the effect of climate change on O 3 pollution have emphasized the summer, when O 3 concentrations are highest, a few investigators have reported increases during spring and autumn, suggesting a lengthening of the ozone season (Fiore et al, 2002;Nolte et al, 2008;Trail et al, 2014). Clifton et al (2014) have projected a reversal of the O 3 seasonal cycle in the northeastern US by the end of the 21st century, with increased methane levels and decreased NO x levels combining to produce a wintertime maximum in surface O 3 .…”

On Aerosol Liquid Water and Sulfate Associations: The Potential for Fine Particulate Matter Biases

“…Sulfate mass concentrations increase by a factor of four from summer to winter. Summertime maxima in sulfate mass concentrations in the Eastern U.S. are driven largely by changing SO 2 emissions related to electricity demand, which peaks in summer on High Electricity Demand Days (HEDD) [50,51]. Temporal variance (σ = 7.4 µg m −3 ) in ALW for Washington D.C. in 2004 is relatively large and driven primarily by the strong seasonal trend of sulfate ( Figure 3) and not RH.…”