Health-Aware Optimal Power Flow

Grid operators rely on optimal power flow (OPF) models to manage their systems and plan electricity generation. While these models primarily focus on minimizing the economic cost of grid operation, fossil fuel-based generators represent a leading source of criteria air pollutants such as particulate matter and nitrogen oxides, which are causally associated with negative public health outcomes including asthma and premature mortality. Although recent work has extended OPF to account for carbon emissions, no existing work has explicitly integrated the public health impact of electricity generation into OPF. In this work, we introduce a Health-Aware Optimal Power Flow (H-OPF) model which adapts OPF to minimize the negative health externalities imposed by electricity generation. Since ambient air pollution is affected by air dispersion around an emission source, the health impact is dependent on the location of emissions sources, as well as their intensity and local weather conditions. We conduct a case study comparing our H-OPF model with carbon-aware OPF and standard economic OPF models, providing a detailed comparison of their generation dispatch decisions, overall health impacts, and equity implications.