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More Than 20 Coal-Fired Plants Will Close in Wake of Wastewater Rule

November 29, 2021

A new wastewater rule authorized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) earlier this year is leading several coal-fired plants to announce closure plans, according to an analysis of state regulatory filings by the Sierra Club.

The group said at least 26 plants in 14 states have said they will stop burning coal, with 21 facilities closing and another five switching to natural gas-fired generation, according to a report published Nov. 22 by the Associated Press. The EPA has said it expects the rule would impact about 75 coal-fired plants across the country.

The EPA in July announced it would reinstate Obama-era regulations on wastewater that were rolled back by the Trump administration. The new wastewater rule requires power plants to clean coal ash and toxic heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic, and selenium from plant wastewater before it is discharged into streams and rivers.

Coal-fired power plants had an October deadline to tell their state regulators how they planned to comply with the rule.…

Drought-Crippled Hoover Dam, Glen Canyon Hydropower Plants Operating at Substantially Decreased Capacity

September 7, 2021

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The post Drought-Crippled Hoover Dam, Glen Canyon Hydropower Plants Operating at Substantially Decreased Capacity appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The iconic 2-GW Hoover Dam and 1.3-GW Glen Canyon Dam hydropower plants are operating at substantially reduced capacity, paralyzed by enduring drought conditions across the West, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) has revealed.

Weeks after USBR on Aug. 16 declared the first-ever federal water shortage at Lake Mead, the agency told POWER this week that deteriorating storage levels at the Colorado River’s largest reservoir are posing hurdles for power production from Hoover Dam. The situation could have new implications for Los Angeles and other parts of Southern California, Arizona, and Nevada, which take the bulk of the allocated firm energy that the plant produces.

“Lake Mead is at its lowest level since being filled, resulting in a decrease of about 25% of Hoover Dam’s generating capacity,” Rob Manning, chief of USBR’s Public Affairs, said on Monday. While Hoover’s normal capacity is 2,074 MW, it’s currently 1,567 MW.…

Group Buys Pennsylvania Coal Refuse Plants to Power Bitcoin Mining

August 3, 2021

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The post Group Buys Pennsylvania Coal Refuse Plants to Power Bitcoin Mining appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A digital mining company has an agreement to purchase a second power plant in Pennsylvania, as the group increases its coal refuse reclamation operations in the state to provide energy for its bitcoin mining operations.

Stronghold Digital Mining, a bitcoin (BTC) miner headquartered in Kennerdell, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 3 said its purchase of the Panther Creek Plant, located on 33 acres in Nesquehoning, in Carbon County, adds 80 MW of generation capacity to its portfolio, which also includes the 85-MW Scrubgrass plant. Scrubgrass is located on 650 acres in Scrubgrass Township, in Venango County.

Stronghold, founded earlier this year, uses the power plants to convert coal refuse into power that is used to mine bitcoin, an energy-intensive process. Coal refuse is classified by Pennsylvania as a Tier II alternative energy resource, akin to large-scale hydropower. Coal refuse over the years has been left in piles near coal operations; today, circulating fluidized bed technology allows for emissions-controlled conversion of coal refuse into energy.…

Enabling IIoT Connectivity for Virtual Power Plants

July 12, 2021

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The post Enabling IIoT Connectivity for Virtual Power Plants appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Declarations of climate emergencies in many countries around the world have created awareness for the need to switch to clean energy sources, which in turn has prompted the power industry and governments to take action or set definite goals. Many governments around the world now provide incentives to individuals, industries, and communities who are interested in generating and using power from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy.

The power grid has seen many changes that have enabled the integration of power from distributed energy resources (DERs). In the new power economy that is emerging, virtual power plants (Figure 1, VPPs) are showing the way by making it possible to aggregate power from different DERs and providing an efficient platform for energy trading. Catalyzed by these developments, a new “prosumer” class is emerging that consists of consumers who not only consume power from the grid but also produce their own green power and might have excess power to sell.…

NRG Will Close 3 Coal Plants After Poor Auction Results

June 18, 2021

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The post NRG Will Close 3 Coal Plants After Poor Auction Results appeared first on POWER Magazine.

NRG Energy Inc. said it will retire three coal-fired power plants—two in Illinois and one in Delaware—next year after disappointing results in the May 2021 capacity auction for the PJM Interconnection.

NRG during its June 17 investor day presentation said about 1.6 GW of coal-fired generation would be closed, including the 682-MW Waukegan and 510-MW Will County (Romeoville) plants in Illinois, along with the 410-MW Indian River plant in Delaware. The announcement was made by Christopher Moser, NRG’s executive vice president of operations. The plants account for about 55% of NRG’s coal-fired generation capacity in PJM.

“Closing these plants was a difficult, but necessary decision,” NRG said in a statement.

*The Waukegan coal plant, located on the shore of Lake Michigan, will close next year along with two other NRG-operated coal plants, the company announced June 17. Courtesy: Google Images*

Moser said the three facilities would be retired in June 2022. …

Exec Calls for Action on New Texas Gas-Fired Plants

June 16, 2021

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The post Exec Calls for Action on New Texas Gas-Fired Plants appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The chief executive of a Connecticut-based energy investment firm has called for action on his group’s proposal to build as many as 11 new natural gas-fired power plants in Texas.

Himanshu Saxena, CEO of Starwood Energy Group, in a June 14 interview said, “We would like to see significant steps in countering, negotiating and material tangible actions on our proposal.”

Saxena’s comments, published by Reuters, came the same day the state’s grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), asked Texans to reduce their electricity use “as much as possible” this week. ERCOT said that power plants accounting for as much as 11 GW of generation capacity were offline due to what it called “forced outages,” at a time when temperatures have soared into the upper 90s in the state. ERCOT in an email to POWER wrote that “forced outages are unscheduled and result from the failure of a power plant to function as designed.”…