Air Quality Impacts of Brisbane CBD Backup Generators
This study is an assessment of the air quality implications of running all of the identifiable backup generators in the Brisbane CBD simultaneously. Over 65MW of generating capacity was identified, mainly in the form of large diesel generators.
To evaluate the impacts, regional air quality modelling was conducted in conjunction with an emissions inventory for the Southeast Queensland Region. This modelling showed that in terms of the National Environment Protection Measure, there would be no additional exceedances of this measure with the strategy in place. For the evaluation of local air quality impacts, computational fluid dynamics was used to simulate the impacts at ground level, balconies and building air-conditioning intakes. The results of these simulations were used to optimise the sites and identified which of the generators could be used simultaneously without compromising the air quality in the CBD.
The study found that up to 41MW of the generator capacity could be run without compromising air quality both locally and regionally.
Keywords: Computational Fluid Dynamics, Air Quality, Central Business District, Distributed Electricity Generation.