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Georgia Power Plans to Retire All Coal Units by 2035

February 2, 2022

Georgia Power plans to shutter most of its coal fleet by 2028 and completely exit coal-fired power by 2035, according to the utility’s latest integrated resource plan (IRP) filed with state regulators on Jan. 31.

The Southern Co. subsidiary on Monday said it would make more investments in natural gas-fired generation, along with renewable energy, to make up for the lost coal-fired electricity output. The utility also plans to have two new reactors online at its Plant Vogtle nuclear power site, one by the end of this year and the other by mid-2023, that will add more than 2 GW of generation capacity to the company’s fleet.

Georgia Power CEO Chris Womack on Monday said environmental concerns and the current economic landscape of power generation factored into the company’s decisions. The utility files a new IRP with the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) every three years. Its previous IRP was approved in July 2019. Hearings will be held over the next few months to discuss the utility’s plan, with a vote by the PSC expected this summer.…

Evergy to Build Solar Array at Kansas City Coal Power Plant Site

January 9, 2022

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Evergy, a Kansas City, Missouri–headquartered energy provider serving about 1.6 million customers in Kansas and Missouri, announced plans on Jan. 5 to build a 10-MW solar array at the company’s Hawthorn power plant.

“Our Hawthorn power plant is a prime location to showcase Kansas City’s commitment to renewable energy and our city’s forward-thinking progress,” said Chuck Caisley, Evergy senior vice president and chief customer officer. “Bringing this renewable energy to Hawthorn will limit the expense by using infrastructure already in place.”

The Hawthorn Generating Station is located in northeast Kansas City, Missouri, and includes a 564-MW coal-fired unit known as Unit 5 and a 225-MW natural gas-fired combined cycle unit known as Unit 6&9. Hawthorn 5 was built in 1969, but after an explosion in February 1999 destroyed the power plant boiler, the unit was substantially rebuilt and returned to service in 2001.

Evergy plans to build the solar array on 67 acres to the northwest of the plant. The site is expected to include more than 22,000 solar panels and be operational in fall 2022.…

EIA: U.S. Coal Stockpiles Lowest Since 1978

December 9, 2021

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The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently said it expected coal-fired power generation in 2021 to be 22% higher than in 2020, producing the first year-over-year increase in U.S. electricity generation from coal since 2014. That higher generation, though, has reduced inventories of coal at the nation’s power plants, with EIA on Dec. 7 reporting its most recent accounting of coal stockpiles showed inventories at their lowest level in more than 40 years.

The agency on Tuesday said coal-fired generation this year has been buoyed by mostly stable prices for coal, while the price of natural gas moved higher. The EIA reported coal stockpiles at U.S. plants totaled about 80 million tons at the end of September (Figure 1), the lowest level since March 1978. The agency said that while the increased use of coal this year is a factor, it also said stockpiles have fallen over the past several years as more U.S. coal-fired plants have been retired, and remaining coal plants are operated less often, reducing the need for larger inventories.…

Southern Will Close More than Half of Coal Fleet

November 9, 2021

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Southern Company, the third-largest power utility in the U.S., said it will close more than half its coal-fired power generation fleet over the next few years as the group moves toward a goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Southern on Nov. 5 said the closures include units at the two largest U.S. coal plants, along with the previously announced retirement of Plant Daniel in Mississippi. Georgia Power, a Southern subsidiary, expects to retire about 3 GW of coal-fired generation in that state, including two of the four units at the 3,450-MW Plant Bowen and one at the 3,500-MW Plant Scherer, the nation’s largest coal plant.

The utility also said a closure would occur at the 1,840-MW Plant Wansley in Georgia.

Southern CEO Tom Fanning in a call Friday with Wall Street analysts said the latest cuts mean the company will have reduced its coal-fired generation capacity by 80% since 2007. Atlanta, Georgia-based Southern at one time operated 66 coal-fired generating units, with capacity of nearly 20,500 MW across the U.S.…

DTE Energy Will Close Belle River Coal Power Plant Two Years Early

October 15, 2021

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Detroit-based DTE Energy said it will cease all coal use at its Belle River Power Plant no later than December 2028, at least two years earlier than the facility’s previously scheduled 2030 end date.

The Belle River Power Plant comprises two electric generating units, each with a maximum gross design generating output of 697 MW. The 2,200-acre site on which it’s located is in China and East China Townships in St. Clair County, Michigan, and is shared with several other units including a few gas-fired peaking combustion turbines and the coal-fired St. Clair Power Plant. The Belle River units were brought online in 1984 and 1985, respectively.

DTE, which serves about 2.2 million electric customers in southeast Michigan, said retiring the facility by 2028 will enable the company to achieve its 50% carbon emissions reduction goal faster than planned and move the company closer to its ultimate goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions. DTE has already retired four of its coal-fired facilities—Marysville, Harbor Beach, Conners Creek, and River Rouge—and plans to retire its Trenton Channel and St.…

SMRs May Replace Polish Coal; GE Hitachi in Fuel Supply Pact

September 27, 2021

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Poland’s push for nuclear power could include repurposing of coal-fired power plants with small modular reactor (SMR) technology from NuScale Power. NuScale on Sept. 23 announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with two Polish companies, KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. (KGHM), and Piela Business Engineering (PBE), to explore how NuScale’s technology could be used to provide electricity and heat for KGHM’s industrial processes along with cleaner power for the country.

NuScale then later Thursday said it had signed an MOU with Oklahoma-based energy company Getka Group (Getka) and Poland’s UNIMOT S.A. (UNIMOT) that also looks at deploying NuScale’s SMRs, again to repurpose Polish coal-fired power plants. Getka is an integrated energy company providing construction, and delivery of petroleum, refined products, and alternative energy. UNIMOT is a multi-energy capital group that offers its wholesale and retail customers fuel products, gas and electricity, including renewable energy.

Poland, which relies heavily on coal, was the only member of the European Union not to commit to climate neutrality by 2050 when the EU set the target in 2019.…