Trusting CEMS vs EIA data

[grgmiller]

Some generators report fuel consumption data to both EIA-923 and to CEMS, and these numbers are not always consistent with each other. Currently, we trust the CEMS data over the EIA data whenever available.

However, research has suggested that the CEMS data may be biased due to measurement error. We should explore this research in more depth to determine whether the EIA data is considered more accurate than the CEMS data. If so, we may consider using the EIA monthly totals to scale the hourly reported data from CEMS.

See the folllowing research:

• Carbon dioxide emission tallies for 210 U.S. coal-fired power plants: A comparison of two accounting methods (2013)
• Comment on Quick, J.C. 2014. Carbon dioxide emission tallies for 210 U.S. coal-fired power plants: A comparison of two accounting methods
• Response to comments by Gurney et al. regarding “Carbon dioxide emission tallies for 210 U.S. coal-fired power plants: A comparison of two accounting methods” (2014)
• • Author response to second letter to the editor (2015)
• Bias present in US federal agency power plant CO2 emissions data and implications for the US clean power plan (2016)
• Systematic error and uncertain carbon dioxide emissions from U.S. power plants (2019)