Feasibility of flexible technology standards for existing coal-fired power plants and their implications for new technology development
Abstract
Copyright © 2015 UCLA Law Review All Rights Reserved.This Article explores the feasibility
of adding flexibility to mandates for existing power plants in order to foster technology
innovation and reduce compliance costs and emissions. Under new and proposed EPA rules
a significant portion of the coal-fired electricity generating capacity will require
multi-billion dollar investments to retrofit and comply with emissions standards on
SO2, NOx, PM, mercury, toxic metals, acid gases, coal combustion residuals, and cooling
water intake rules. A number of plant owners may find preferable to replace these
plants with new units that run with today's low cost natural gas. Massive retrofit
or replacement of the current coal-fired power generation fleet with today's solutions
will harm the conditions for research and development of path-breaking fossil-fired
power generation technologies. This would not be a serious problem if the current
retrofit and replacement technologies were in fact a solution to the many environmental
externalities posed by the coal-fired power plants that are now candidates for expensive
retrofitting or retirement. But the technologies available today are far from being
a solution commensurate with the climate and environmental risks that fossil-fired
generation poses in the United States and the world. This Article finds that a policy
with a flexible compliance payment that allows investors to delay the decision of
retrofitting or replacing and hence, maintains incentives for innovation in retrofit
and new plant technologies, can outperform an inflexible mandate by reducing compliance
costs and improving environmental performance.
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/9494Collections
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Dalia Patino-Echeverri
Gendell Family Associate Professor
Dr. Patino-Echeverri’s research focuses on public policy design for energy systems,
with a particular emphasis on managing the risks arising from the uncertainties influencing
the outcomes of government actions. Much of her current work focuses on the policies
that affect capital investment decisions within the electricity industry, and the
corresponding costs to society of electricity and air-emissions levels. Her models
explore the effects of different government policies by representing

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