Clean Energy Cost-Savings: A Study of Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission (CFE)

Clean Energy Cost-Savings: A Study of Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission (CFE)

contracted clean electricity. This is relevant because, even in the few cases where there are no net savings, the incremental cost is still lower than the cost of purchasing the corresponding CEL certificate in the market. Avoided Emissions In addition to the averted fuel and O&M costs, a full comparison requires an estimate of the CO 2 and SO 2 emissions offset by the use of renewable sources for power generation. They can be calculated based on the net thermal efficiency of the power plant no longer operated, the fuel used by said plant, and the corresponding emission factors for each fuel, shown in Table 7.

Table 7. Emission Factors

Coal (Domestic)

Coal (Imported)

Emission Factor

Natural Gas

Diesel

Fuel Oil

kg CO 2 /GJ (1) kg CH 4 /GJ (1) kg N 2 O/GJ (1) kg CO 2 e/GJ (2) kg SO 2 /GJ (3)

56.10

74.10

77.40

94.60

94.60

0.0010 0.0001

0.0030 0.0006

0.0030 0.0006

0.0010 0.0015

0.0010 0.0015

56.15

74.35

77.65

95.07

95.07

0.0232

0.0231

1.95

1.03

0.76

CH 4 = methane; N 2 O = nitrous oxide; CO 2 e = carbon dioxide equivalent Note 1. See Federal Register 03/09/2015 for the technical details and formula for methodologies used to calculate greenhouse gas/compound emissions. Note 2. Using an equivalency factor of 25 for CH4 and of 298 for N2O (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). Note 3. Determined based on heating value and % of sulfur (S) content Figures 7 and 8 below show the CO 2 e (CO 2 equivalent of CO 2 , CH 4 and N 2 O emissions) and SO 2 emission values for the different types of power plants, expressed in tons per MWh. Figure 7. CO2e Emissions

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