CoalFired | EnergyNorthwest.com

South Korea Will Close Half Its Coal-Fired Fleet

September 9, 2020

The post South Korea Will Close Half Its Coal-Fired Fleet appeared first on POWER Magazine.

South Korea’s president said the country will shutter 30 more coal-fired power plants by 2034, and bring additional solar and wind power resources online in the next five years in order to meet emissions reductions targets.

President Moon Jae-in made the announcement Sept. 8 in a speech he delivered virtually for the United Nations’ International Day for Clean Air for blue skies event. The president said his administration will close 10 of those operating coal-fired plants by the end of 2022. He also has called for the country to phase out nuclear power.

South Korea has about 60 operating coal plants, which generate about 40% of the country’s electricity. The country over the past three years has implemented temporary shutdowns of plants that are more than 30 years old, including idling about half the coal-fired fleet earlier this year in an effort to reduce air pollution.…

Coal-Fired Generation Down 30% in U.S., 8% Worldwide

August 14, 2020

| No Comments

| Industry News

The post Coal-Fired Generation Down 30% in U.S., 8% Worldwide appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Analysis from a global energy organization said power generation from coal-fired units fell 8.3% in the first half of 2020, with the world’s coal fleet running at less than half its capacity. The drop for U.S. coal generation was more steep, with the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reporting the output from the nation’s coal units was 30% lower this year compared to the first six months of 2019.

The Ember group, a UK-based think tank, said the global drop was in part due to significantly lower demand for power during the coronavirus pandemic, and coal’s share of generation also was eroded by increased production of electricity from renewables such as solar and wind. Investments in renewable energy continue to increase worldwide as wind and solar power have become competitive with fossil fuel-fired generation.

Ember’s global half-year electricity analysis, released August 13, comes at the same time as the EIA’s latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), published Tuesday.…

GenOn Will Close Three Coal-Fired Units

May 22, 2020

| No Comments

| Industry News

The post GenOn Will Close Three Coal-Fired Units appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Texas-based company that owns a coal-fired power plant in Maryland announced it will retire the facility’s three generating units, which have been in operation for about 60 years.

GenOn Holdings said Units 1, 2, and 3 at its Dickerson Generating Station will be closed due to “unfavorable economic conditions and increased costs associated with environmental compliance.” GenOn in a May 15 news release said that “deactivation of the coal-fired units is subject to a 90-day reliability review period by PJM,” after which the company “will initiate a deactivation process and a step plan reduction in the workforce at the Dickerson site.”

The Dickerson facility was a POWER Top Plant in 2010.

The PJM Interconnection website shows the units’ requested deactivation date as Aug. 13. PJM is the regional transmission organization (RTO) that oversees the movement of wholesale electricity in Maryland, 12 other states, and the District of Columbia.…

Wisconsin Co-op Will Close Coal-Fired Plant

January 26, 2020

| No Comments

| Industry News

The post Wisconsin Co-op Will Close Coal-Fired Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Wisconsin-based Dairyland Power Cooperative on Jan. 23 said it would close its 345-MW coal-fired Genoa Station No. 3 by year-end 2021. The move comes as the La Crosse-based utility continues to phase out coal-fired power generation while it develops a new, $ 700-million natural gas-fired plant, and ramps up its use of renewable power sources.

The Genoa plant has operated for nearly 51 years. Dairyland said the plant employs about 80 workers.

“Our employees are Dairyland’s most valued resource,” said Dairyland CEO Barbara Nick in a statement. “As we made this difficult decision, we did so with a deep appreciation for the contributions of our employees who have dedicated their talents and energy to help us deliver on our mission to our members.”

The supercritical Genoa facility, which was brought online in June 1969, was designed to be highly efficient and uses low-sulfur coal from the Powder River Basin, delivered by barge.…

2.2-GW Coal-Fired Behemoth Could Permanently Close This Week

November 14, 2019

| No Comments

| Industry News

The post 2.2-GW Coal-Fired Behemoth Could Permanently Close This Week appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The 2,250-MW coal-fired Navajo Generating Station (NGS) in Arizona will permanently close likely this week, ending a long and bitter fight to keep the plant and its affiliated coal mine open.

The plant’s utility owners—Salt River Project (SRP), Arizona Public Service Co., Tucson Electric Power Co., and NV Energy—in February 2017 voted to shut down the plant located on tribal land near Page along the border with Utah, citing “rapidly changing economics of the energy industry,” which has seen natural gas prices sink to record lows.

SRP, the plant’s majority owner, told POWER in an email on Nov. 12 that operations at the plant are now expected to end within the next week, once fuel on site has been exhausted. “The best estimate now is for all units to be shut down permanently on Nov. 15—but that could change,” a spokesperson said.

After the project’s utility owners voted to close the plant in 2017, coal mining giant Peabody Energy, the Department of Interior (whose Bureau of Reclamation is a participant in the project), and the Navajo Nation launched concerted attempts to find an outside buyer to keep running the plant.…

Another Coal-fired Plant Will Close in Wisconsin

December 4, 2017

| No Comments

| Industry News

WEC Energy Group continues to move away from coal-fired power in its portfolio. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based utility in November gave WEC investors more details about the plan for Wisconsin Public Service (WPS), a WEC subsidiary, to close the Pulliam Power Plant in Green Bay, Wisconsin, as early as next fall.

WEC subsidiary We Energies last week said it will close its coal-fired Pleasant Prairie plant in the second quarter of 2018. WEC also in 2016 signed an agreement to replace coal units at the its Presque Isle plant in Michigan with natural gas-fired generation; Michigan regulators approved that plan in October of this year. That plant in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is operated by WEC subsidiary Upper Michigan Energy Resources.

Plans for the Pulliam plant’s eventual closure were first announced in October 2016, according to Matt Cullen, a spokesman for WPS. The plant began service in 1927, and at one time had eight coal-fired generating units; it operates two today. The plant is located at the mouth of the Fox River in Green Bay.…