A Market-Clearing-based Sensitivity Model for Locational Marginal and Average Carbon Emission

Abstract: This letter proposes a market-clearing-based locational marginal carbon emission (LMCE) metric to assess the marginal carbon emission effect of nodal load demand. Unlike the prevalent carbon emission flow (CEF) method that relies on a hypothetical power-flow tracking process, the proposed LMCE metric depends on a novel sensitivity analysis of market-clearing results, capable of revealing both energy-dependent and network-dependent impacts on emissions. Additionally, we introduce a locational average carbon emission (LACE) metric, derived from LMCE, to effectively measure the general emission effect. It offers insights into demand-side carbon emission effects, such as a negative LMCE and LACE indicating emission reduction even as load increases. It can also prevent excessive demand-side emission allocations. Overall, the proposed method provides a clear perspective for the ongoing decarbonization policies.