IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v121y2018icp124-137.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How can Indian power plants cost-effectively meet the new sulfur emission standards? Policy evaluation using marginal abatement cost-curves

Author

Listed:
  • Sugathan, Anish
  • Bhangale, Ritesh
  • Kansal, Vishal
  • Hulke, Unmil

Abstract

The first-ever SO2 emission concentration standards for Indian coal-power plants were notified on December 7, 2015. In light of the new stringent standards, this paper conducts a techno-economic policy evaluation of SO2 abatement options by building a system-wide marginal abatement cost curve (MACC) for India. An abatement cost model is developed, to estimate retrofit costs for three end-of-process (EOP) SO2 abatement technologies. A system-wide SO2 MACC is derived based on cost optimal allocation of EOP abatement technology to each boiler. Compliance with the new stricter emission standards is evaluated at 75% pollution reduction (≈ 4600 kt-SO2 reductions per year). Compliance with the new standard corresponds to a marginal abatement cost of INR 23,500 per ton of SO2 (≈USD 368.50 per ton of SO2) and total system-wide abatement cost of INR 75 billion (≈USD 1.2 billion) per year. Reduction in pollution is estimated to save 46,000 lives per year at the cost of about INR 1.63 million per life per year. Sensitivity analysis of the MAC curve shows that plant capacity utilization has the most significant impact on total lifetime compliance costs followed by equipment fixed cost, sorbent cost, and water cost in that order.

Suggested Citation

  • Sugathan, Anish & Bhangale, Ritesh & Kansal, Vishal & Hulke, Unmil, 2018. "How can Indian power plants cost-effectively meet the new sulfur emission standards? Policy evaluation using marginal abatement cost-curves," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 124-137.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:121:y:2018:i:c:p:124-137
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2018.06.008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421518303963
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.06.008?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Becker, Randy A., 2005. "Air pollution abatement costs under the Clean Air Act: evidence from the PACE survey," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 144-169, July.
    2. Gollop, Frank M & Roberts, Mark J, 1985. "Cost-minimizing Regulation of Sulfur Emissions: Regional Gains in Electric Power," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 67(1), pages 81-90, February.
    3. Raymond Hartman & David Wheeler & Manjula Singh, 1997. "The cost of air pollution abatement," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(6), pages 759-774.
    4. Coggins, Jay S. & Swinton, John R., 1996. "The Price of Pollution: A Dual Approach to Valuing SO2Allowances," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 58-72, January.
    5. Kaneko, Shinji & Fujii, Hidemichi & Sawazu, Naoya & Fujikura, Ryo, 2010. "Financial allocation strategy for the regional pollution abatement cost of reducing sulfur dioxide emissions in the thermal power sector in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 2131-2141, May.
    6. Lee, Sang-choon & Oh, Dong-hyun & Lee, Jeong-dong, 2014. "A new approach to measuring shadow price: Reconciling engineering and economic perspectives," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 66-77.
    7. Kaminski, Jacek, 2003. "Technologies and costs of SO2-emissions reduction for the energy sector," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 75(3-4), pages 165-172, July.
    8. Gupta, Aashish & Spears, Dean, 2017. "Health externalities of India's expansion of coal plants: Evidence from a national panel of 40,000 households," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 262-276.
    9. Zhou, P. & Zhou, X. & Fan, L.W., 2014. "On estimating shadow prices of undesirable outputs with efficiency models: A literature review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 799-806.
    10. Soma Bhattacharya & Anna Alberini & Maureen Cropper, 2007. "The value of mortality risk reductions in Delhi, India," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 21-47, February.
    11. Cropper, Maureen & Gamkhar, Shama & Malik, Kabir & Limonov, Alex & Partridge, Ian, 2012. "The Health Effects of Coal Electricity Generation in India," RFF Working Paper Series dp-12-25, Resources for the Future.
    12. Islas, Jorge & Grande, Genice, 2008. "Abatement costs of SO2-control options in the Mexican electric-power sector," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(2-3), pages 80-94, February.
    13. Vijay, Samudra & DeCarolis, Joseph F. & Srivastava, Ravi K., 2010. "A bottom-up method to develop pollution abatement cost curves for coal-fired utility boilers," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 2255-2261, May.
    14. S. Madheswaran, 2007. "Measuring the value of statistical life: estimating compensating wage differentials among workers in India," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 84(1), pages 83-96, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tiziano De Angelis & Peter Tankov & Olivier David Zerbib, 2022. "Climate Impact Investing," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 676 JEL Classification: G, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
    2. Ping Lin & Yu Pang, 2020. "Command-and-control regulation, incentive for pollution abatement, and market structure," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 159-180, April.
    3. Nazar, Roshna & Srinivasan, Shweta L. & Kanudia, Amit & Asundi, Jai, 2021. "Implication of emission regulation on cost and tariffs of coal-based power plants in India: A system modelling approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PB).
    4. Gingerich, Daniel B. & Zhao, Yifan & Mauter, Meagan S., 2019. "Environmentally significant shifts in trace element emissions from coal plants complying with the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 1206-1215.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Du, Limin & Hanley, Aoife & Wei, Chu, 2015. "Estimating the Marginal Abatement Cost Curve of CO2 Emissions in China: Provincial Panel Data Analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 217-229.
    2. Vijay, Samudra & DeCarolis, Joseph F. & Srivastava, Ravi K., 2010. "A bottom-up method to develop pollution abatement cost curves for coal-fired utility boilers," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 2255-2261, May.
    3. Rakesh Kumar Jain & Surender Kumar, 2018. "Shadow price of CO2 emissions in Indian thermal power sector," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 20(4), pages 879-902, October.
    4. Chih Chen, 2015. "Assessing the Pollutant Abatement Cost of Greenhouse Gas Emission Regulation: A Case Study of Taiwan’s Freeway Bus Service Industry," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 61(4), pages 477-495, August.
    5. Zhou, X. & Fan, L.W. & Zhou, P., 2015. "Marginal CO2 abatement costs: Findings from alternative shadow price estimates for Shanghai industrial sectors," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 109-117.
    6. Surender Kumar & Rakesh Kumar Jain, 2021. "Cost of CO2 emission mitigation and its decomposition: evidence from coal-fired thermal power sector in India," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 693-717, August.
    7. Jindal, Abhinav & Nilakantan, Rahul & Sinha, Avik, 2024. "CO2 emissions abatement costs and drivers for Indian thermal power industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    8. Lee, Sang-choon & Oh, Dong-hyun & Lee, Jeong-dong, 2014. "A new approach to measuring shadow price: Reconciling engineering and economic perspectives," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 66-77.
    9. Shirong Zhao & Guangshun Qiao, 2022. "The shadow prices of CO2, SO2 and NOx for U.S. coal power industry 2010–2017: a convex quantile regression method," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 243-253, June.
    10. Di Maria, Corrado & Zarkovic, Maja & Hintermann, Beat, 2020. "Are Emissions Trading Schemes Cost-effective?," Working papers 2020/13, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    11. Thomas Stoerk, 2017. "Compliance, Efficiency and Instrument Choice: Evidence from air pollution control in China," GRI Working Papers 273, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    12. Du, Limin & Mao, Jie, 2015. "Estimating the environmental efficiency and marginal CO2 abatement cost of coal-fired power plants in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 347-356.
    13. Bowen Xiao & Dongxiao Niu & Han Wu & Haichao Wang, 2017. "Marginal Abatement Cost of CO 2 in China Based on Directional Distance Function: An Industry Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-19, January.
    14. Lee, Chia-Yen & Zhou, Peng, 2015. "Directional shadow price estimation of CO2, SO2 and NOx in the United States coal power industry 1990–2010," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 493-502.
    15. Charles N. Mock & Rachel Nugent & Olive Kobusingye & Kirk R. Smith, 2017. "Disease Control Priorities, Third Edition," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 28576.
    16. Zhou, Yi & Zhou, Wenji & Wei, Chu, 2023. "Environmental performance of the Chinese cement enterprise: An empirical analysis using a text-based directional vector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    17. Tang, Kai & Yang, Lin & Zhang, Jianwu, 2016. "Estimating the regional total factor efficiency and pollutants’ marginal abatement costs in China: A parametric approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 230-240.
    18. Nazari, S. & Shahhoseini, O. & Sohrabi-Kashani, A. & Davari, S. & Sahabi, H. & Rezaeian, A., 2012. "SO2 pollution of heavy oil-fired steam power plants in Iran," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 456-465.
    19. Kwon, Oh Sang & Yun, Won-Cheol, 1999. "Estimation of the marginal abatement costs of airborne pollutants in Korea's power generation sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 545-558, December.
    20. Becker, Randy A. & Pasurka, Carl & Shadbegian, Ronald J., 2013. "Do environmental regulations disproportionately affect small businesses? Evidence from the Pollution Abatement Costs and Expenditures survey," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 523-538.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:121:y:2018:i:c:p:124-137. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.