Environmental costs resulting from the use of hard coal to electricity generation in Poland

In the world's fuel mix used for generating electricity, the most common fossil fuel is coal. In the EU, coal combustion and electricity generation entail the need to purchase emission allowances (EUA) whose purchase costs affect the costs of electricity generation significantly. The research d...

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Main Authors: Stala-Szlugaj Katarzyna, Grudziński Zbigniew
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: EDP Sciences 2017-01-01
Series:E3S Web of Conferences
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/20171902023
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author Stala-Szlugaj Katarzyna
Grudziński Zbigniew
author_facet Stala-Szlugaj Katarzyna
Grudziński Zbigniew
author_sort Stala-Szlugaj Katarzyna
collection DOAJ
description In the world's fuel mix used for generating electricity, the most common fossil fuel is coal. In the EU, coal combustion and electricity generation entail the need to purchase emission allowances (EUA) whose purchase costs affect the costs of electricity generation significantly. The research described in the article shows how current market conditions shape the profitability of generating electricity from coal and how Clean Dark Spread (CDS) changes as a function of changes in energy and coal prices at the assumed levels of emission and prices of EUA allowances. The article compares the results of CDS calculations in two variants. Areas have been highlighted where prices of both coal and EUA allowances cause CDS to assume values at which the prices of generated electricity do not cover the costs of fuel (i) and CO2 emission allowances, cover all costs (ii), or constitute positive prices (iii), but still do not cover all fixed costs. With higher power plant efficiency, CO2 emissions are lower (0.722 t/MWh). The costs of purchasing fuel required to generate 1 MWh of electricity are also lower. In such case—even with relatively high prices of coal—a power plant can achieve profitability of electricity generation.
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spelling doaj.art-c07684cda2f94bce955338eb310329c52022-12-21T22:05:37ZengEDP SciencesE3S Web of Conferences2267-12422017-01-01190202310.1051/e3sconf/20171902023e3sconf_eems2017_02023Environmental costs resulting from the use of hard coal to electricity generation in PolandStala-Szlugaj KatarzynaGrudziński ZbigniewIn the world's fuel mix used for generating electricity, the most common fossil fuel is coal. In the EU, coal combustion and electricity generation entail the need to purchase emission allowances (EUA) whose purchase costs affect the costs of electricity generation significantly. The research described in the article shows how current market conditions shape the profitability of generating electricity from coal and how Clean Dark Spread (CDS) changes as a function of changes in energy and coal prices at the assumed levels of emission and prices of EUA allowances. The article compares the results of CDS calculations in two variants. Areas have been highlighted where prices of both coal and EUA allowances cause CDS to assume values at which the prices of generated electricity do not cover the costs of fuel (i) and CO2 emission allowances, cover all costs (ii), or constitute positive prices (iii), but still do not cover all fixed costs. With higher power plant efficiency, CO2 emissions are lower (0.722 t/MWh). The costs of purchasing fuel required to generate 1 MWh of electricity are also lower. In such case—even with relatively high prices of coal—a power plant can achieve profitability of electricity generation.https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/20171902023
spellingShingle Stala-Szlugaj Katarzyna
Grudziński Zbigniew
Environmental costs resulting from the use of hard coal to electricity generation in Poland
E3S Web of Conferences
title Environmental costs resulting from the use of hard coal to electricity generation in Poland
title_full Environmental costs resulting from the use of hard coal to electricity generation in Poland
title_fullStr Environmental costs resulting from the use of hard coal to electricity generation in Poland
title_full_unstemmed Environmental costs resulting from the use of hard coal to electricity generation in Poland
title_short Environmental costs resulting from the use of hard coal to electricity generation in Poland
title_sort environmental costs resulting from the use of hard coal to electricity generation in poland
url https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/20171902023
work_keys_str_mv AT stalaszlugajkatarzyna environmentalcostsresultingfromtheuseofhardcoaltoelectricitygenerationinpoland
AT grudzinskizbigniew environmentalcostsresultingfromtheuseofhardcoaltoelectricitygenerationinpoland