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EIA Details Impact of Coal-to-Gas Switching

August 5, 2020

The post EIA Details Impact of Coal-to-Gas Switching appeared first on POWER Magazine.

U.S. utilities have made a significant move away from coal-fired power generation in the past decade, evidenced by a continuing stream of announced coal plant retirements.

That transition has been partly driven by new generation from renewable resources, such as wind and solar power. New data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released August 5, though, shows that a large part of that transition came as generators repurposed those coal plants to run on natural gas, or built new gas-fired plants to replace electricity generated by burning coal.

The EIA on Wednesday said 121 U.S. coal-fired power plants were repurposed to burn other fuels between 2011 and 2019. The agency said 85% of those plants were converted to gas, or replaced by natural gas-fired plants. This coal-to-gas switching was driven not only by more stringent emissions regulations, but also by consistently lower prices for natural gas.

*Most of the coal-fired generation capacity lost during the past decade came from coal plant retirements, but several power plants were converted to burn natural gas.*

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ITC Probing Economic Impact of Renewable Goals, Imports to New England

February 19, 2020

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The post ITC Probing Economic Impact of Renewable Goals, Imports to New England appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Responding to a request from a Democrat-led U.S. House committee, the federal International Trade Commission (ITC) is investigating how New England’s increasing renewable targets are economically affecting the region, and what role renewable imports play in meeting those commitments.

The ITC, an independent, nonpartisan and quasi-judicial federal agency that also provides fact-finding as it relates to international trade, on Feb. 12 announced it was seeking input for the investigation, which was requested by the House Committee on Ways and Means on Jan. 23.

The ITC’s probe will focus on Massachusetts, and it will involve a review of Massachusetts’ electricity market, and residential and commercial rates, to understand how domestic and imported power sources affect the commonwealth. However, it will also look into renewable energy goals and commitments made by other New England states—and, significantly, it will assess how the state is faring in its transition from nuclear and fossil fuels to renewables.…

Drought Has Big Impact on California Power Market

April 27, 2017

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Rain and snow has returned to California, ending the record-setting drought with record-setting precipitation.

The drought led to forest fires, dead orchards, and brown lawns. It also took a big bite out of ratepayers’ wallets and increased global warming emissions, due to the loss of low-cost, zero-emission hydropower.

In a study released April 26 by Peter Gleick—a noted water expert at the Pacific Institute in Oakland—researchers found that lower hydropower production cost California ratepayers almost $ 2.5 billion in higher power prices, and may have raised power sector carbon dioxide emissions 10%, due to increased output from gas-fired generators (see Figure 2). Gleick’s team used data through September 2016 to calculate the figures.

Courtesy: Pacific Institute

California has 14 GW of hydro capacity, with little growth in recent decades due to environmental, economic, and political constraints. While hydro typically supplies about 18% of California’s power, the drought dropped production to as low as 7% in 2015, the driest year of the drought.…