Installation Planning in Regional Thermal Power Industry for Emissions Reduction Based on an Emissions Inventory

Exploring suitable strategies for air pollution control, while still maintaining sustainable development of the thermal power industry, is significant for the improvement of environmental quality and public health. This study aimed to establish a coupling relationship between installed capacity versus energy consumption and pollutant emissions, namely the installed efficiency, and to further provide ideas and methods for the control of regional air pollutants and installation planning. An inventory of 338 installed thermal power units in the Jing-Jin-Ji Region in 2013 was established as a case study, and comparisons were made by clustering classification based on the installed efficiencies of energy consumption and pollutant emissions. The results show that the thermal power units were divided into five classes by their installed capacity: 0–50, 50–200, 200–350, 350–600, and 600+ MW. Under the energy conservation and emissions reduction scenario, with the total installed capacity and the power generation generally kept constant, the coal consumption was reduced by 17.1 million tons (8.7%), and the total emissions were reduced by 79.8% (SO(2)), 84.9% (NO(x)), 60.9% (PM), and 59.5% (PM(2.5)).