Dharik S. Mallapragada, Indraneel Naik, Karthik Ganesan, Rangan Banerjee, and Ian J. Laurenzi
November 2018 |
Suggested citation: Mallapragada, Dharik S., Indraneel Naik, Karthik Ganesan, Rangan Banerjee, and Ian J. Laurenzi. 2018. "Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Impacts of Coal and Imported Gas-Based Power Generation in the Indian Context." Environmental science & technology 53, no. 1: 539-549.
This paper utilises India-specific supply chain data to estimate life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of indigenous coal-based power generation in India relative to imported fossil fuels, namely, liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States. It lays a particular emphasis on quantifying the variability in GHG impacts among individual power plants in the coal and natural gas power fleets. The analysis is based on various sources, including annual power plant emissions data for representative subsets of existing coal and gas power plants in India in recent years (FY12−FY15), data associated with mining and transportation of domestic coal in India using a combination of country-specific data sources, fuel consumption data for the Indian gas pipeline network, and Indian power plant characteristics synonymous with the lowest and highest life cycle GHG emissions. It aims to inform national policy on possible “no-regrets” GHG emissions reduction strategies as well as trade-offs between costs and emissions.
On average, life cycle GHG emissions from LNG imported into India are ∼54 per cent lower than those associated with Indian coal. The GHG intensity of the Indian coal-power sector may be reduced by 13 per cent by retiring plants with the lowest efficiencies and replacing them with higher efficiency supercritical plants.