Contributions of Individual Generators to Nodal Carbon Emissions

Abstract: Recent shifts toward sustainable energy systems have witnessed the fast deployment of carbon-free and carbon-efficient generations across the power networks. However, the benefits of carbon reduction are not experienced evenly throughout the grid. Each generator can have distinct carbon emission rates. Due to the existence of physical power flows, nodal power consumption is met by a combination of a set of generators, while such combination is determined by network topology, generators' characteristics and power demand. This paper describes a technique based on physical power flow model, which can efficiently compute the nodal carbon emissions contributed by each single generator given the generation and power flow information. We also extend the technique to calculate both the nodal average carbon emission and marginal carbon emission rates. Simulation results validate the effectiveness of the calculations, while our technique provides a fundamental tool for applications such as carbon auditing, carbon-oriented demand management and future carbon-oriented capacity expansion.