Abstract: | The power system in India accounts for nearly one-third of CO2 emissions of the country as a whole. A comparison of some of the technical options to reduce CO2 emissions is presented in this paper. A linear programming framework is used to simulate the integrated optimal operation of the three regional grids, and it is shown that such operations lead to lower fuel costs and to lower CO2 emissions. The same framework is used to see how a rise in thermal efficiency translates into a CO2 emissions reduction. Reduced fuel requirements also lead to reductions in other pollutants ie SO2, NOx and fly ash. The reductions in CO2 emissions and other pollutants are at far lower cost in the case of integrated optimal operations as compared to reductions due to gas fuelled generation or thermal efficiency improvements. However, thermal efficiency improvements under optimal integrated operations result in much higher reductions in operating costs, coal consumption and total emissions of all pollutants. |