Power plant siting policy alternatives for Pennsylvania

Technical Report · Tue May 04 04:00:00 EDT 1976

OSTI ID:7257259

The Governor's Science Advisory Committee established a panel to study broad problems of energy facility siting for Pennsylvania. The objectives and tasks were to provide Pennsylvania's policy and decision makers with detailed analyses to assist in evaluating siting policy alternatives and related issues for electrical power generation facilities. The study reported here was limited in scope to coal-fired and nuclear facilities. This study is organized in a framework that (1) provides background and historical information relevant to power plant siting considerations; (2) analyzes in detail some of the critical environmental, economic, socio-economic, and procedural issues; and (3) shows some of the key interrelationships and tradeoffs among the different siting issues examined. Major conclusions include the following. Plant size and growth rates will directly affect the number of new sites required. Should conventional-sized plants of 1000-MWe capacity be used to meet future demands, the additional number of sites required would be about 31, 75, and 120 for annual growth rates in peak demand of 3.5 percent, 5.9 percent, and 7.5 percent, respectively. Coal production growth rates could be the limiting factor to supplying future electricity demands, possibly resulting in an additional reliance on nuclear plants or other fuels. If nuclear energy, high coal production levels, or imported fuel sources become infeasible or unacceptable, then conservation measures aimed at reducing electricity demand growth rates will be required. Load management can be used to reduce the necessity for increasing generating capacity without a reduction in total demand for electricity. Present regulatory policy for the use of air and water resources will pose significant constraints on the future siting and cost of generating facilities. (MCW)

• Research Organization: Carnegie-Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7257259
• Report Number(s): NP-21888
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS
200203 -- Fossil-Fueled Power Plants-- Waste Management-- Site Selection & Land Use
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
296001* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Electric Power Generation-- (-1989)
530100 -- Environmental-Social Aspects of Energy Technologies-- Social & Economic Studies-- (-1989)
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CENTRAL REGION
COAL
COMMUNITIES
COST
DECISION MAKING
DEMAND FACTORS
ECONOMIC IMPACT
ELECTRIC POWER
ENERGY CONSERVATION
ENERGY FACILITIES
ENERGY POLICY
ENERGY SOURCES
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
FORECASTING
FOSSIL FUELS
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
FUELS
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
LOAD MANAGEMENT
MANAGEMENT
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
PENNSYLVANIA
POWER
POWER GENERATION
POWER PLANTS
REGULATIONS
SITE SELECTION
SOCIAL IMPACT
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
TRANSPORT
USA
WATER RESOURCES