Pollutant Permits Allocation In China's Thermal Power Industry Based On Efficiency Analysis

The power industry is not only an important part of the energy supply system,but also an important industry directly related to the national economy and people's livelihood.Because our country power source structure is relatively simple,the thermal power generation occupies the very big proportion.It produces a lot of SO₂,NO_X and soot and other pollutants in the process of power generation,which has a huge negative impact on the environmental protection.As an effective economic means to control pollutant emission,emissions trading of thermal power enterprises has been widely adopted by governments around the world.Since the initial allocation of emission right of thermal power enterprises is the basis and core factor of emission right trading,this paper studies the allocation and optimization of emission right quota in thermal power industry from the perspective of efficiency analysis.Based on the existing efficiency analysis theory and under the framework of common frontier,this paper designs the maximum expected output emission right allocation model and SBM equilibrium frontier emission right allocation model respectively according to environmental production technology and SBM efficiency analysis model.Therefore,the SO₂,NO_X and soot of China's thermal power industry are analyzed and studied from the perspectives of power grid and the country.First of all,this paper uses the maximum expected output emission right allocation problem to calculate the optimal pollution generation quota of each province in China,the optimal emission reduction coefficient of each power grid and analyzes the sensitivity of emission reduction coefficient and the deviation degree of distribution when the efficiency is the highest.Secondly,corresponding to the maximum expected output emission right allocation model,this paper constructs the SBM equilibrium frontier emission right allocation model to calculate and give the optimal power generation pollutant quota of each province.Finally,the paper compares the two allocation methods:the maximum expected output distribution model can be adopted if the situation of emission reduction is severe.On the contrary,SBM equilibrium frontier assignment model can be adopted.Empirical results show that:the efficiency-based allocation of emission rights is suitable for the quota allocation in China's immature emission trading market.Provinces or regions with higher environmental production performance have more pollution discharge rights.Provinces or regions with low performance receive lower emission permits.There is an inverted u-shaped relationship between the optimal power generation and emission reduction coefficient,which indicates that:stringent emission reduction policies may lead to the rapid decline of power generation,and loose emission reduction policies cannot achieve the goal of motivating emission reduction.Finally,combined with the empirical results,the paper suggests that China should accelerate the construction of emissions trading market for thermal power generation,unify measurement standards and improve the coordination of the system.