GHG emissions reduction by identifying optimal level of co-firing biomass and natural gas in coal-burning power plants

Ashkan Mirzaee, Ronald McGarvey & Francisco Aguilar

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Abstract

Biopower, the electricity generated from woody biomass, is considered as a carbon neutral and renewable source of energy that can be co-fired in power plants in order to cut carbon pollution. In this research, an optimization model is developed to identify the optimal amount of electricity to be generated from woody biomass, natural gas, and coal at a candidate set of US power plants. The MILP model minimizes the total cost of generating the required electricity projected to be demanded by the EIA through 2030, with environmental and spatially-explicit woody biomass availability constraints.

Presentation

More details about the conference presentation at INFORMS Annual Meeting 2019 is available in here.