Integration of air pollutant health impacts into electricity system operation models

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is the advancement of the integration of air quality health impact models and electricity system optimization models. Optimization models have been used to minimize electricity production costs while meeting demand. However, these models have not previously integrated air quality health impact concerns that vary hourly at a fine spatial resolution. Assessing air pollutant health externalities of emissions from fossil fuel-based electricity production is important to populations nearby emissions sources and to policy makers. We study new air quality model pollutant formation estimation that includes a temporal dimension and higher spatial resolution when compared to previous models. A new method for integrating temporally dependent air pollutant formation with improved spatial resolution into electricity system models is introduced. Finally we present two case studies and several future research directions.