A decision support system for electric utilities : compliance with Clean Air Act

摘要

The Clean Air Act (CAA) Amendments established an absolute national limit for sulfur dioxide (SO_2) emissions by the year 2000. The Act is based on a market-oriented system under which power plants will be granted ‘emission allowances', each of which grants the right to emit a ton of SO_2 into the atmosphere. Utilities that reduce their emissions below their allocated allowances may sell the additional allowances in what will presumably be a developing market. Utilities are free to choose how to comply with the Act, but a few generally recognized options are likely to form the basis for compliance strategies. While the options are known, the costs of implementing the options are not known with certainty. Each utility will need to determine the lowest cost, most effective strategy given its current configuration and generation requirements. The compliance strategy decision must also be presented and defended to the appropriate Public Utility Commission (PUC). This paper outlines a prototype decision support system (DSS) using an optimization engine integrated with a database to help aid utilities in making decisions regarding their compliance strategy. This DSS was created specifically with a mid-western utility company in mind; however, it is generic enough to be useful to any utility. The results obtained using the DSS are very encouraging. The decisions supported by it are consistent with those offered by experts in the industry. The DSS promises to be a very useful tool for strategic planning related to CAA compliance.