EGU Emissions Analysis Project

Volcanic Ash Event Hawaii Wilson Fire, California Old Faithful Geyser, Yellowstone National Park, Class I Area, Wyoming Yosemite National Park Class I Area, California The Falls, Sioux Falls, South Dakota
EGU Emissions Analysis Project

The Center for the New Energy Economy (CNEE) at Colorado State University will conduct an analysis of current and future air emissions from fossil-fueled electricity generating units (EGUs) in 13-Western states for the Western States Air Resources Council (WESTAR) and Western Regional Air Partnership (WRAP). WESTAR and WRAP representatives have participated in discussions with WEST Associates, a group comprised of major Western electric utilities, to develop parameters for this study, including information needed for Western regional air quality analyses and planning under the federal Clean Air Act.

Developing a comprehensive and up-to-date data set for EGU emissions has emerged as a top priority among Western state and utility officials. The information developed through this project will be used in regional analysis affecting all Western states and utilities as part of the ongoing implementation of the Regional Haze Rule and for ozone analysis and planning.

Phase I of the project which has two major objectives and deliverables:
  1. A comprehensive database of information on the fleet of fossil-fired EGUs in 13-Western states (circa 2014-2017) that contains information on the plants operating characteristics and emissions; and
  2. A projection of future plant utilization and emissions based on expected plant closures, re-powering plans, and additional controls required under a “rules on the books” scenario that includes any controls required by permit or consent decree during the period 2014 (base year) to 2028 (target year).
June 14, 2019

Final Report (PDF)
  1. File 1 - Net Generation Data
  2. File 2 - 1998-2018 CAMD Data
  3. File 3 - 2018 Charts
  4. File 4 - Western Coal Units
  5. File 5 - 2028 coal scenarios
  6. File 6 - 2018 and 2028 gas units
  7. File 7 - non-CAMD units
  8. File 8 - 2018 and 2028 by state
  9. File 9 - scatter plots
  10. File 10 - gas 2014-18
March 12, 2019 Workshop

Morning session recording (MP4 format)
Afternoon session recording (MP4 format)

Workshop Materials

Agenda with links to presentation materials

February 25, 2019 project WebEx and conference call recording (MP4 format)

Agenda
  1. Welcome and agenda review- Tom
  2. Overview of regional haze modeling process and state level analysis - Tom (PPTX)
  3. Recap Jan. 30th webinar - Patrick
  4. Discussion of preliminary 2028 scenarios – Patrick (PPTX)
  5. March 12th workshop – Patrick and Tom
    • Finalize 2028 scenarios
    • Next steps on evaluating EGU contributions to reasonable progress
January 30, 2019 project WebEx and conference call recording (MP4 format)

Agenda
Presentation

Data files
Arizona
Colorado
Montana
Nevada
New Mexico
North and South Dakota
Utah and Wyoming

Planned Retirements

November 6, 2018 Workshop

Morning session recording (MP4 format)
Afternoon session recording (MP4 format)
Workshop Materials
Agenda
EGU Emissions Analysis project statement
The Role of Coal in the West
WESTAR-WRAP Regional Haze Analysis and Planning
Western Regional Emissions
EGU Emissions Analysis

Data Review from November 6th workshop – please complete your review of the baseline data below, addressing the four points listed next, and provide your corrections and notations by no later than January 8, 2019 to Patrick Cummins ([email protected]).

The primary data files for this project are posted below for review. These data come straight from EPA’s Air Markets Data website (https://ampd.epa.gov/ampd/). Data downloaded in the files are for 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 and the fields selected for inclusion in these files are listed in the table below. The data are sorted first by facility name, then by unit ID, and then by year.
  • Review these data for your state/company and provide any corrections. The 2014 data will be used in WRAP’s baseline modeling exercise so it’s important that the data accurately reflect emissions from each unit in that year.
  • Second, flag any data that is not representative of the unit’s current operations – especially in terms of capacity factor (gross load) or emissions rate. For example, we need to know if a unit experienced a major outage or was down for an unusually long period of time due to maintenance, repairs, or upgrades in any one of the these years (2014-17).
  • Third, is the 2017 emissions rate reflective of current (or soon to be installed) controls for NOx and/or SO2 at each unit. If new controls were installed in 2017 that are not fully reflected in that year’s data, or if there are new controls in 2018 or 2019, please describe those controls, note the timing of their installation/operation, and provide a best estimate of the unit’s emission rate once the new controls are fully operational.
  • Fourth, please flag any units that switched from coal to gas during 2014-2017 and the date of that switch. Also, please note any units that switched to gas in 2018, or which are planned to fuel switch sometime between now and 2028.
The 2014-2017 data will be used to construct a representative profile of each unit’s current operation, both in terms of capacity factor and emissions rate. That will be the next deliverable on this project. We will present the representative, current emissions inventory for Western EGUs on a webinar in late-January of early-February review and comment.

From there, the projected 2028 inventory will be developed for review at the second in-person workshop in March. Among other things, developing the projected 2028 emissions inventory will require incorporation of information on planned unit retirements between now and 2028. An initial review of planned unit retirements was done during our Nov. 6th meeting. An additional spreadsheet will be sent and posted in Dec. for review, comment, and any corrections.

Arizona
California
Colorado
Idaho and Montana
North and South Dakota
Nevada
New Mexico
Oregon and Washington
Utah and Wyoming

Data fields included in the spreadsheets:

State
Facility Name
Facility ID (ORISPL)
Unit ID
Year
Operating Time
Gross Load (MW-h)
SO2 (tons)
Avg. NOx Rate (lb/MMBtu)
NOx (tons)
CO2 (short tons)
Heat Input (MMBtu)v
Owner
Operator
Unit Type
Fuel Type (Primary)
Fuel Type (Secondary)
SO2 Control(s)
NOx Control(s)