Abstract
The paper analyzes the main issues of power market development for clean energy production within the broader framework of ensuring the country’s energy security. In addition, special attention is paid to the technologies aimed at reducing emissions of toxic substances and greenhouse gases by the fossil-fired power plants. Even though the future electricity markets would most likely depend on the high shares of renewable energy sources (RES) in the electricity system, energy efficiency such as the one based on the near-zero emission technologies might also play a crucial role in the transition to the carbon-free energy future. In particular, there are the oxy-fuel combustion technologies that might help to reduce the proportion of unburned fuel and increase the efficiency of the power plant while reducing the emissions of flue gases. Our paper focuses on the role and the place of the near-zero emission technologies in the production of clean energy. We applied economic and mathematical models for assessing the prospects for applying oxy-fuel combustion technology in thermal power plants, taking into account the system of emission quotas and changes in the fuel cost. Our results demonstrate that at the current fuel prices, it is advisable to use economical combined cycle gas turbines (CCGT). At the same time, when quotas for greenhouse gas emissions are introduced and fuel costs increase by 1.3 times, it becomes economically feasible to use the oxy-fuel combustion technology which possesses significant economic advantages over CCGT with respect to the capture and storage of greenhouse gases.