Evaluation of Air Quality Impacts of Distributed Generation (DG)

Overview

The application of distributed resources to the California market portends significant benefits in overall electricity reliability, cost, power quality and overall emissions reduction. However, the implementation of a paradigm shift from central generation to distributed generation (DG) would result in significantly different emissions profiles with increased and widely dispersed stationary source emissions increases in several air basins (compared to central generation outside of the basin).

The questions that the current research effort addresses include:

1. how will DG likely be implemented in the South Coast Air Basin (SoCAB),
   
2. will DG implementation scenarios increase ambient ozone levels enough to exceed the proposed new 8-hour ozone standard,
   
3. could increases in NOx emissions trigger increases in secondary particulate formation,
   
4. what scenarios for implementation of DG could reduce overall environmental impact,
   
5. what is the effect on green house gas emissions within air basins, and
   
6. how can state-of-the-art air quality models be best utilized to provide insight into the environmental impacts of widespread DG implementation?

This project is supported by the California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program. It addresses the PIER program objective of reducing environmental and public health risks of California's electricity by accurate analyses of the environmental impact of DG utilization in California.

Objectives

The overall goal of this project is to develop strategies for the accurate determination of the environmental and life cycle impacts of DG adoption in the South Coast Air Basin. The specific goals of this effort are to:

• Construct a set of likely distributed generation implementation scenarios,
• Evaluate a set of scenarios for determining the impact of DG in the South Coast Air Basin,
• Verify that accurate accounting of aerosol dynamics is required for air quality modeling of the South Coast Air Basin,
• Determine whether the accuracy of state-of-the-art air quality models are sufficient to capture impacts of DG,
• Compare model predictions and conclusions to ARB simulations for the South Coast Air Basin,
• Coordinate modeling activities to assure consistent predictions with the South Coast Air Quality Management District and California Air Resources Board, and
• Support the Central California Ozone Study (CCOS) through provision of modules, scenarios, and technical advise as desired or required.
  

Status

October 2001: Award from the CA Energy Commission was announced ($698,689 over five years)

December 20, 2001: Kick-off Meeting

March 19, 2002: Kitchen Cabinet (CA Air Resources Board, South Coast Air Quality Management District participation with CEC)

May 23, 2002: 2nd Kitchen Cabinet Meeting at SCAQMD

August 7, 2002: 3rd Kitchen Cabinet Meeting at UCI

September 19, 2002: DG Stakeholder Workshop at UCI

Sponsors

California Energy Commission (full cash cost of project)

California Air Resources Board

South Coast Air Quality Management District (in-kind cost share)

Personnel

Student: Marc Carerras (Graduate), Marcos (Graduate)

Faculty: Prof. Scott Samuelsen, Prof. Donald Dabdub, Associate Professor,  Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Staff: Dr. Jacob Brouwer, Sr. Scientist, Dr. Marc Medrano, Post-Doctoral Researcher

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