An Analysis of Thermal Plant Flexibility Using a National Generator Performance Database

Area of Science:

• Power Systems Engineering
• Environmental Science
• Data Science

Background:

• Grid integration studies require understanding thermal power plant flexibility, especially part-load operation.
• Inaccurate understanding of thermal plant operations can lead to miscalculations in integrating variable generation resources.
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Clean Air Markets database is a key public data source but is difficult to use.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe a method for cleaning and filtering the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Clean Air Markets database.
• To analyze historical thermal power plant operational characteristics using the cleaned data.
• To provide a cleaned dataset with heat rate curves for use in modeling and analysis.

Main Methods:

• Data cleaning and filtering of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Clean Air Markets database.
• Analysis of historical power plant operational data, focusing on part-load operation.
• Development of heat rate curves from the cleaned dataset.

Main Results:

• A transparent method for cleaning and filtering the power plant operational database is presented.
• Analysis reveals frequent part-load operation in the historical thermal power fleet.
• A cleaned dataset, including heat rate curves, is provided for broader use.

Conclusions:

• Accurate analysis of thermal power plant operations is essential for effective grid integration studies.
• The developed method and cleaned dataset enhance the usability of historical power plant data.
• This resource supports more accurate assessments of variable generation integration's economic and environmental impacts.