The energy production and consumption result in environmental damage. The world’s power demands are expected to rise 60 % by 2030. In 2007 there were over 50,000 active coal plants worldwide and this number is expected to grow. In 2004, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated that fossil fuels will account for 85 % of the energy market by 2030.
World organizations and international agencies, like the IEA, are concerned about the environmental impact of burning fossil fuels, and coal in particular. The combustion of coal contributes the most to acid rain and air pollution, and has been connected with global warming. Due to the chemical composition of coal there are difficulties in removing impurities from the solid fuel prior to its combustion. Pollution from coal-fired power plants comes from the emission of gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur dioxide into the air.
Over 25 % of coal fired at the thermal coal-fired power plants in Russia has ash content of above 40 % which makes the problem of flue gas cleaning of particulate matter rather urgent. In Russia the environmental safety of energy facilities must be improved. And this problem is becoming more acute due to the energy facilities aging. From technical and technological point of view the task of the environmental safety ensuring is quite a solvable problem, but it is complicated by the lack of money investment.
Today the problem of SO2 emissions is being solved at the majority of power stations by coal and gas combined combustion, or by low-sulfur coal addition. For example, the share of the high-sulfur coal from the near Moscow coal field fired at 300 MW units of the Ryzan TPP is reduced to 20 %. Coal from the Kuzbas, Siberia and the Far East is low-sulfur coal and is now fired without using the DeS0x systems.
Despite the urgent need to reduce environmental pollution and increase power generation efficiency, marginal electricity production cost at the coal-fired power plants will be the same for several years. Further improvement of the economic situation in Russia will bring along wider introduction of gas-fired combined cycle plants.