Substantial emission reductions from Chinese power plants after the introduction of ultra-low emissions standards

Abstract

In 2014, China introduced an ultra-low emissions (ULE) standards policy for renovating coal-fired power-generating units to limit SO2, NOX and PM emissions to 35, 50 and 10 mg m-3 , respectively. The ULE standard policy had ambitious levels (surpassing those of all other countries) and implementation timeline. We estimate emission reductions associated with the ULE policy by constructing a nationwide, unit-level, hourly-frequency emissions dataset using data from a continuous emission monitoring systems network covering 96-98% of Chinese thermal power capacity during 2014-2017. We find that between 2014 and 2017 China's annual power emissions of SO2, NOX and PM dropped by 65%, 60% and 72%, respectively. Our estimated emissions using actual monitoring data are 18-92% below other recent estimates. We detail the technologies used to meet the ULE standards and the determinants of compliance, underscoring the importance of ex-post evaluation and providing insights for other countries wishing to reduce their power emissions.

Air pollution emissions from Chinese power plants based on the continuous emission monitoring systems network

“…Since 2014, all state-monitored companies have been mandated to report their CEMS data to the local governments through a series of online platforms for different provinces (listed in Supplementary Table 1). Local entities have random onsite inspections to check the truthfulness of the reported results on at least a quarterly basis 23,24,28,32,34 ; this system enables a comparison of CEMS data across different firms to explore potential outliers and abnormalities and prevent data manipulation 28,35 . Then, the governments release the inspection results to the public through the same online platforms (listed in Supplementary Table 1) 24,36,37 .…”

“…Local entities have random onsite inspections to check the truthfulness of the reported results on at least a quarterly basis 23,24,28,32,34 ; this system enables a comparison of CEMS data across different firms to explore potential outliers and abnormalities and prevent data manipulation 28,35 . Then, the governments release the inspection results to the public through the same online platforms (listed in Supplementary Table 1) 24,36,37 . Severe financial penalties and criminal punishments can be imposed on firms that adopt data manipulation (in terms of deleting, distorting and forging CEMS data, for example) 38,39 .…”

“…), maintenance (particularly the failure to perform calibration and reference tests) and data reporting (invalid data communication, data missing, etc.) 24,28 . Accordingly, each power plant is required to make at least one A-, B-and C-grade overhaul for 32-80, 14-50 and 9-30 days per 4-6, 2-3 and 1 year(s), respectively, as well as one D-grade overhaul (if needed) for 5-15 days per year, to check, maintain and upgrade its technologies, thereby reducing measurement uncertainty 40 .…”

Air‐Source Heat Pump for Distributed Steam Generation: A New and Sustainable Solution to Replace Coal‐Fired Boilers in China

“…[49] In China, it can be expected that thermal power will still occupy a large proportion and the ultralow emission transformation of thermal power has achieved certain results. [50] As far as thermal power is concerned, an obvious question is why we do not directly use clean fuels such as natural gas and biomass for boiler heating, and this is mainly because the distribution of industrial boilers is often decentralized. According to the survey (see Note S2 in the Supporting Information), China's industrial boilers' average capacity is 3.2 t h −1 and the proportion of industrial boilers that could be replaced by air-source heat pump boiler is more than 80%.…”

Photocatalytic Aided Removal of Nitrogen Oxides and VOCs from Outdoor Environment: Graphene as a Highway for Electron Mobility in TiO2 Nanoparticles

“…Additionally, those anthropogenic aerosols emissions are even able to (partly) obscure the sun, as it has been shown that up to 15% of photovoltaic electricity has been "lost" in China between 1960 and 2015 because of the increased air pollution [18]. However, in 2014, China introduced an ultra-low emissions standards policy to limit the emissions of those anthropogenic aerosols [19].…”