Monthly Archives: September 2017

Via The Morning Consult:

The number of coal and nuclear power plants that have closed in recent years could power tens of millions of homes. In April, Energy Secretary Rick Perry asked for a report on whether continued closures pose a threat, and whether the markets are adequately compensating the resilience benefits these “baseload” or “always on” power plants provide. Energy supply is critical, especially in emergency circumstances. We need the most secure and reliable generation we can provide.

The DOE report is in, and it shows we have work to do: “Recent severe weather events have demonstrated the need to improve system resilience …  [L]ow average wholesale energy prices, while beneficial for buyers of wholesale electricity, represent a critical juncture for many existing baseload generation resources and their role in preserving reliability and resilience. . . . Markets need further study and reform to address future services essential to grid reliability and resilience.” The reference to “severe weather events” was even before Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, as severe cold weather is every bit as challenging.

As soon as the study was first announced, the political lines were drawn. “Rick Perry Thinks You’re Stupid,” screamed the headline of a Sierra Club article, claiming the study was “attempting to stop the renewable revolution.” Advanced Energy Economy wrote, “Though off base from the start, we can only expect that such a study, with its apparently predetermined result, will lead to policy action that will attempt to harm” wind and solar energy.

Let’s be clear – this study was about keeping the lights on. Its analysis was long overdue, even though much of the information was gathered during my tenure as assistant secretary of fossil energy in the first term of the Obama administration. Our information raised concerns that purposely were not made public at that time because it would have exposed flaws with regulations the Environmental Protection Agency ultimately imposed on CO₂ emissions. That lack of forthrightness in government should disturb us all.

Since it’s impossible to store electricity in society-sized amounts, we need power generators that can run all the time. Coal and nuclear can run on demand to serve this need. So also can other power plants – natural gas, hydropower, geothermal and others.

But over recent years we have seen a steady decrease in coal and nuclear power and a rise of less reliable sources like wind and solar thanks to government incentives and tax credits. Wind and solar do sometimes produce more power than we need, but not nearly enough at other times. Ability to produce on demand is a fundamental pillar of the power system, but the country continues move away from sources that can do so without addressing the market and economic needs of “always on” baseload generators. That is a long-term formula for disaster.

The shale revolution has made gas plentiful and inexpensive. It certainly helps, but there are limitations. Some states have banned fracking. Many do not have pipeline infrastructure to deliver gas, and have created roadblocks and barriers to building gas pipelines. And unlike coal and nuclear, gas cannot be stored on site, making it more vulnerable to supply disruption and market variability. Should anything happen to those pipelines, there must be a way to secure fuel from elsewhere.

That’s exactly why we must keep coal and nuclear in the “all of the above” energy mix. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation, the overseer of grid reliability, reports, “The rapid changes occurring in the generation resource mix and technologies are altering the operational characteristics of the grid and will challenge system planners and operators to maintain reliability.”

I believe CO₂ plays a role in climate change, but controlling its output cannot be the exclusive definition of environmental responsibility. We have to be honest about both environmental considerations and the necessity of power sources that can produce energy on demand.

Now that DOE has studied, the government must act. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has jurisdiction to oversee wholesale electricity markets and can help ensure that we make power increasingly environmentally responsible through technology while investing in solving all of the challenges that comprise reliability.

DOE has thankfully invested in and embraced the analysis and has the opportunity to influence and direct agencies such as FERC to act. Our public good demands that action.

Charles McConnell is executive director of Rice University’s Energy and Environment Initiative and previously served as assistant secretary of energy under former President Barack Obama from 2011-2013.

See the article here. 

Via Platts:

The US coal industry has hope for its future where a year ago there was not any, according to Bill Raney, President of the West Virginia Coal Association.

Speaking Tuesday at the S&P Global Platts Coal Marketing Days Conference in Pittsburgh, attendees highlighted the improved relationship with the federal government, rather than any major policy changes, since the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency.

Raney said the Obama administration launched a “war on coal” in 2008 that crippled the West Virginia coal sector, leaving 60% of the state’s production in bankruptcy and causing production to drop to a 40-year low.

“I don’t know if we’ve totally survived it or not but we’re a hell of a lot closer than we were before November 8,” he said, noting the date of Trump’s election.

Raney said the appointment by Trump’s administration of several government officials with ties to the coal industry to prominent mining and energy policy roles should also prove helpful.

David Stetson, Chairman of Alpha Natural Resources, was more cautious in his evaluation of the new president’s impact, but agreed cooperation from the regulatory environment has improved.

“We have seen some movement back to what I would consider a normal working relationship with the authorities,” said Stetson.

Speaking on the sidelines, an Alaskan miner told Platts, “you could see the change in tone at the federal agency within two months [of Trump’s inauguration]. We had an application approved that had just been sitting there for two years to broaden our mining operation.”

Moving forward, Raney called for the government to incentivize plant upgrades and introduce a requirement for power plants to have at least 30-60 days supply of coal to ensure mine production.

He also suggested there should be more support for domestic rare earths production, as China’s dominance in the space could become a security question. The same argument has been used by US steel producers to call for a section 232 order to limit imports of steel.”

See the article here.

Via The Washington Times:

Gentlemen, start your thermostats. Ladies, too. The Obama war on coal, which cost Hillary Clinton the vote in once-reliably Democratic West Virginia, is over. Maybe the war on nuclear energy, too. Americans might soon heat their homes without choosing between the warmth and food and medicine.

It’s not quite a “so long, solar” moment, but common sense on energy is clearly making a comeback, summed up in the headline in The New York Times, “Under Trump, Coal Mining Gets New Life on U.S. Lands.” The White House is looking for ways to encourage more mining, too — not less, as in the Obama years — on the nation’s federally managed land. Beyond that, the U.S. Interior Department is looking to reduce the size of some of these federally managed properties and national monuments. This would restore more private investment in mining.

The pro-coal movement is already having a good effect. About 85 percent of the nation’s coal on federal lands is extracted from the Powder River Basin, which runs through Montana and Wyoming. President Trump intends to roll back moratoriums on new coal leases on these lands.

“For the past eight years,” said Paul Bailey, president of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, told Congress, “we’ve had a fair amount of environmental overreach from the Obama administration and that has contributed, we believe, to the majority of coal retirements that have happened in the past.”

Those “retirements” have led to increased electricity costs for consumers. The average American’s electric bill rose 11 percent under Mr. Obama, according to government data cited by the Daily Caller.

West Virginians suffered most. The average West Virginia homeowner watched electricity costs rise from 7.27 cents per kilowatt-hour in November 2008 to 11.72 cents in 2016 — a 62 percent increase. Customers in Kansas, Michigan, South Dakota and Nebraska experienced rate increases of 40 percent or more during that time. Overall, 42 states and Washington, D.C., watched electricity costs spike during the Obama years.

“We are all affected by this constant regulatory quagmire,” says Bill Cadman, vice president of Whiting Petroleum, which drills mostly on leased public lands. But maybe under the new administration, not so much. The cold months are coming, and lower power and light bills will warm everyone.

See the article here.

Via Fox Business News:

Paringa Resources is taking the rare step of building a new coal mine in the U.S., as the Trump administration rolls back regulations on the struggling industry.

The coal company is building a coal mine in Kentucky and expects to begin producing coal in mid-2018. It will construct another mine that’s scheduled to be in action by early 2019.

In an interview with Maria Bartiromo on the FOX Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria,” CEO Grant Quasha said President Donald Trump pushed the project over the goal line.

“All we had to do was raise the money,” he said. “On the back of the Trump administration coming into the Oval Office and ending the war on coal, we were able to successfully raise approximately $40 million worth of financing in the Australian equity markets to help build out this mine.”

The Poplar Grove Mine will produce nearly 3 million tons of thermal coal for a local power utility. The Cypress Mine will provide an estimated 3.8 million tons following its construction, according to Paringa Opens a New Window.. The mines are located in the Illinois Basin, a coal-producing basin that stretches across parts of Indiana and Kentucky.

Paringa is hiring 200 people over the next 12 months to support Poplar Grove. Quasha said the company plans to hire another 300 people for its second mine.

Coal production in the U.S. has decline in recent years under pressure from new regulations imposed by the Obama administration and low prices for natural gas. Paringa is betting on a turnaround. Quasha believes natural gas, which is trading around $3 per million British thermal units, will rise to $4. He also sees international demand improving through 2030.

Via The Seattle Times:

It has been more than six years since Japan suffered the devastating earthquake and tsunami that triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. The world is well-aware of the massive destruction caused by this unprecedented natural disaster. Perhaps less well-known is that the disaster also radically changed Japan’s energy options.

Japan lacks meaningful domestic natural energy resources and consequently imports 96 percent of such resources. Nuclear energy was seen as a viable way to be more self-sufficient in meeting our energy needs. But Fukushima changed all that with the ensuing suspension of nuclear power generation and loss of public support. Despite a concerted national effort to deploy additional renewable resources, the loss of nearly one-third of power generation capacity was difficult to replace. We were suddenly more reliant than ever on imported fossil fuels to generate electricity.

Today, we are one of the world’s top importers of coal. It is a major, indispensable source of energy in Japan for electricity. Our economy and society depend on it as a stable, reliable energy source. A stable energy supply is also a matter of national security. In a region that is becoming increasingly unfriendly and unstable, this has never been a harsher reality.

Coal has always been an important part of Japan’s energy mix, but this dependence increased dramatically after the Fukushima disaster. In fact, Japan is currently building two new advanced technology gasification-based coal plants in the Fukushima area — called “the Fukushima Revitalization Project” to ensure energy security and revival of local economy.

To stabilize and secure our supply, Japan is highly interested in importing coal from the United States, a trusted ally and reliable trading partner. We do not import any appreciable energy resources from the U. S. today. As major trade partners with Washington state, we see the proposed Millennium terminal in Longview as a solution in meeting our energy, national-security and economic-growth needs.

Japan is committed to honoring its Paris Climate Accord commitments. We all recognize that coal is a major source of greenhouse gases, but it is also one of the world’s most accessible, abundant and reliable energy sources. The 2016 International Energy Outlook concludes that coal will remain the second-largest energy source worldwide until 2030. World coal consumption is projected to increase by more than 20 percent by 2040. Knowledgeable and responsible energy planners, economists and humanitarians agree that this reliance on coal is a reality that will not change for decades.

There is a viable path forward with coal: reducing emissions through advanced coal technologies and more efficient consumption. By significantly reducing CO2 emissions from coal, we can move the needle in the right direction as we also work to bring new technologies online.

Japan is a global leader in aggressively pursuing high-efficiency/low-to-zero-emission technologies for generating electricity from coal. This includes some of the most technologically advanced coal-fired power generation plants in the world. We also want to import the highest quality coal possible to optimize our substantial investments in coal technology infrastructure.

Coal shipped through the Longview terminal is Powder River Basin coal. Due to its unique qualities, this coal is the most suitable fuel for the highly efficient gasification-based technologies we are developing at Fukushima and elsewhere. Japan needs a reliable supply of high-quality coal to support economic growth and national security while also meeting our stringent environmental requirements.

The Millennium project brings substantial benefits to Longview and the state of Washington — and it also offers Japan a sound solution to its pressing energy-security challenges.

The Japanese people are already warmly familiar with such Pacific Northwest icons as Boeing, Starbucks, Microsoft — and, of course, the Seattle Mariners. Millennium represents a mutually beneficial opportunity to further extend our trade relationship and friendship with Washington state, and encourages people in Fukushima Prefecture with a brighter future.

Shozo Kaneko is a fellow of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers. He has recently retired from the faculty of the University of Tokyo.d

See the article here.

Via The Houston Chronicle:

When future policy makers go back and study the U.S. energy industry in the 2010s, one of the defining trends will be the sudden decline of coal and nuclear plants.

Whether this is the beginning of a great new era of American energy or a disaster in the making is the subject of much debate.

And now add another voice to the mix, as the research firm IHS Markit warned in a report released Tuesday that the shift away from coal and nuclear is likely to leave the U.S. grid overly reliant on natural gas and renewable forms of energy and prone to more expensive and volatile electricity prices than we currently enjoy.

The report is funded by the trade groups U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Edison Electric Institute and the Nuclear Energy Institute – groups that have a lot at stake in what the power grid becomes in the decades ahead.

What Makovich sees is a confused energy market with criss-crossing and contradictory incentives for carbon-free energy that favors wind and solar energy through tax incentives but does not do enough to incentivise carbon-free nuclear.

The study comes as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission weighs whether to take action to keep afloat a raft of nuclear plants in danger of closing in the years ahead. A report by the Department of Energy last month put the majority of the blame on the flood of cheap natural gas due to the fracking boom and recommended changes to the power market to help the coal and nuclear sectors.

“Our study is saying there is a clear economic argument behind making these additional  interventions because we’re not dealing with a clear market operating without distortion,” Makovich said. “You have favored technologies.”

See the article here.

Via The Bluefield Daily Telegraph:

U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., has introduced a welcomed measure in the U.S. House of Representatives that could help in further boosting coal’s future.

The legislation would allow a coal-burning power plant or related facility to retrofit or upgrade without meeting new environmental emission standards. Under the proposed measure, the plant or facility would only have to show an improvement in efficiency with less pollutants.

“That would allow some of those folks who have aging coal facilities to retrofit without a big expense,” Griffith told the Daily Telegraph last week. “It would still cost money, but not nearly as much. They only have to show that it (emission standards) would be better than they were.”

Griffith believes the measure will pass the Republican-controlled House and will be supported by President Donald Trump.

Under the Obama administration, a number of coal-fired power plants that provided good-paying jobs were forced to close as a result of unrealistic and overly stringent federal regulations. The Trump administration has since rolled back a number of those burdensome rules.

Griffith says he would also like to see a certain percentage of Appalachian thermal coal, which is used in power plants, set aside as a reserve in case of a natural disaster or terrorist attack that would impact the natural gas supply or the supply of coal from western states.

That’s a good idea.

We welcome the ongoing efforts of Griffith, and other congressional Republicans, to boost coal production. The industry is rebounding, and this helps our regional economy. Every new job that is created in the coal and related service industries strengthens our region.

See the article here.

Via The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

The Sept. 10 Forum article “The War on Coal Communities: Strip Mining” is out of touch with today’s coal mining industry. Its author fails to acknowledge that the Surface Mining Reclamation and Control Act of 1977 is not a one-size-fits-all program. Each U.S. mine has detailed plans on how the mined land will be restored — which must be then approved by the government.

The piece devotes much of its time to describing techniques that “started in earnest during the 1940s” but ignores that mining has changed significantly in the 80 years since. Technological advancements, higher industry standards and increased state and federal oversight have contributed to a safer, cleaner responsible industry that cares about the communities in which its employees live and work. Further, mountaintop mining accounts for less than 0.6 percent of coal mining today and continues to be on the decline.

Coal continues to be an important source of electricity. The public deserves an accurate picture of how the industry has changed and advanced to ensure environmentally responsible, affordable and reliable energy for all.

HAL QUINN
President and CEO
National Mining Association
Washington, D.C.

See the article here.

Eighty-five percent of American voters agree that the U.S. should act to protect the diversity of its energy grid to minimize potential impacts from natural disasters like the devastating hurricanes that have struck the U.S. and the Caribbean in the past several weeks, according to a new poll by Morning Consult for the National Mining Association (NMA).

On the supply side, Hurricane Harvey disrupted natural gas production and impacted operations of several pipelines. Even before Irma made landfall in the continental U.S., nuclear power plants across Florida began to shut down.

During and after the hurricanes, damages to infrastructure were catastrophic, with millions expected to be without power for weeks. The U.S. Department of Energy has already announced $50 million in grants to support research and development of next-generation tools and technologies to further improve the resilience of the nation’s critical energy infrastructure.

“With millions of Americans in the dark from Texas to Florida, the U.S. government and the American people acknowledge a need to do more to secure America’s energy grid,” said Hal Quinn, NMA president and CEO. “One way to address potential supply challenges is to utilize a mix of different fuels, including coal, natural gas, nuclear power and renewables. Diversity in the energy market minimizes disruptions when any one fuel source is challenged. At the same time, we need to invest in our infrastructure and support the advanced technologies that make all energy sources as efficient as possible.”

The poll was conducted September 7-11, 2017, of 1,975 registered voters, with a margin of error of +/-2 percent.

See the press release here.

Via Trib Live:

Pennsylvania continues to mine about a fifth more coal this year than it did last year, according to the Energy Information Administration’s weekly coal production report.

For the week that ended Sept. 9, the state’s bituminous coal production for the year was up 20.4 percent from the same period last year, maintaining the gain it held throughout August.

Bituminous coal production since January was 35.1 million short tons compared to 29.2 million tons produced by Sept. 9, 2016, according to the agency’s data.

Year-to-date production in the Eastern Pennsylvania anthracite fields also held steady at a 9.1 percent gain from the 2016 totals. The region had mined 1.2 million tons as of Sept. 9 compared to 1.1 million in 2016.

National coal production for the year was 548 million short tons as of last week, a 13.5 percent increase from the same period in 2016.

See the article here. 

Via The Bluefield Daily Telegraph:

BLUEFIELD — The 22nd biennial Bluefield Coal Show at the Brushfork Armory officially kicked off with optimism this morning, welcoming 195 exhibitors to the “coal show for coal people” and to a renewed growth in the market.

“We have worked to make it a good show every year of the show,” said Charlie Peters, who has been general chairman of the event since its start in 1976.

Peters spoke at the traditional Media Appreciation Breakfast, held immediately before the ribbon-cutting to open the show.

Via Utility Dive:

Dive Brief:

• Coal production is up and will continue to rise through next year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s latest Short Term Energy Outlook.
• Coal production for August was the first month since October 2015 where production topped 70 million short tons (MMst).

Dive Insight:

EIA’s monthly outlook is a mixed bag, showing growing gas and coal production as well as rapidly increasing renewables capacity. Coal is expected to remain the top generating source through the end of next year, in part due to rising gas prices, but after that its share may decline.

The agency expects the share of U.S. utility-scale electricity generation from natural gas to fall from an average of 34% in 2016 to about 31% this year. During the same period, coal’s forecast generation share rises from 30% to 31% in 2017. Looking ahead, EIA says projected generation shares for natural gas and coal in 2018 average 31% and 32%, respectively.

It’s positive news for coal, particularly along with production data.

Coal production for August 2017 was estimated to have been 74 MMst, or about 8% higher than August 2016. Production for the first eight months of this year was 14% higher than the same period last year, EIA said, and full-year production is expected to increase by 8% in 2017 and by 2% in 2018.

See the full article here.

Via The Olympian:

The U.S. Forest Service is backing the expansion of Colorado’s largest coal mine over the objections of environmentalists.

The Daily Sentinel reports that Forest Supervisor Scott Armentrout announced Thursday that that the benefits of expanding the West Elk Mine near Somerset outweighed the potential environmental threat.

The mine got initial consent to expand under a 2012 state-federal compromise for managing roadless areas but environmentalists sued, saying officials didn’t take the full environmental impact, including climate change, into account. A federal judge threw out the consent but the Forest Service took a first step toward re-allowing the expansion last year under the Obama administration by proposing that Arch Coal be allowed to build roads to facilitate the expansion.

The Forest Service will accept comments on its latest decision for 45 days.

See the article here.

Via Fosters.com:

Few things are more essential to the way we live than electricity. And yet few are more often overlooked than the electricity grid that supplies it. Most of us simply assume that the power needed to keep our AC going and the lights on will always be there, and at an affordable price. That may be true for now, but it may not be in the very near future.

For one thing, market forces and government regulations have combined to shrink the number of electricity-generating power plants. Nuclear energy that supplies a fifth of our electricity is struggling. Nuclear plants are financially distressed. And bankruptcies and cost overruns have stymied new construction.

Coal power plants that just a decade ago provided more than half of the nation’s electricity now generate just a third. Government regulations and booming natural gas have decimated the coal fleet.

Meanwhile, environmental activists strongly oppose building either nuclear or coal plants, believing that wind and solar power can fill the gap. But replacing the 50 percent of electricity now supplied by coal and nuclear energy won’t be easy when wind and solar power meet less than 7 percent of our current demand.

That leaves natural gas to fill the gap. Optimists reassuringly point to our enormous supplies of natural gas. Experts who just a decade ago thought we would be helplessly reliant on imported gas now fret about a glut. Thanks to fracking technology that unlocked shale gas, the U.S. will become a net energy exporter next year if not before.

And that has some experts very concerned: won’t exporting natural gas, the fuel we’re relying on more than ever, raise its price here? It will if markets respond normally. That’s because exports offer producers a new, higher-value market. Last year, U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) found its way to more than 20 different nations and the U.S. Energy Information Administration expects U.S. LNG export capacity to grow sevenfold by 2019.

Natural gas producers see a rosy future. The CEO of oil and natural gas giant Continental Resources predicts U.S. natural gas exports could reach 30 billion cubic feet per day, equivalent to exporting 40 percent of current production.

That could potentially leave U.S. consumers, especially those who are heavily reliant on natural gas for their electricity and heat, with bigger utility bills and more volatile gas prices. A 2015 study for the Department of Energy concluded that “greater LNG exports raise domestic prices and lower prices internationally.”

Costlier electricity at home becomes even likelier if coal and nuclear power are no longer available to fill the gap. The U.S. Department of Energy is so concerned it has launched a study to examine the reliability of the nation’s power grid. Its report is expected soon.

With natural gas exports surging and the EV revolution now here, the safest course is to keep our coal and nuclear plants operating. It’s a recommendation the Energy Department would be wise to make.

We are better at preparing for the future than we are guessing what it will be. But we know we will be surprised. Let’s at least lower the risk that surprises may bring.

See the article here.

Via The Illinois Times:

Electricity is easy to take for granted. But imagine the disruption to our lives if we could not charge our iPhones that connect us to the rest of the world or flip a light switch with the guarantee that power was at our beck and call.

Power reliability, however, has been top of mind for Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Rick Perry, who recently called for a report on the reliability of America’s electric grid. Because of changes brought about by federal and state policies, Secretary Perry is concerned about the health of the electricity grid. Scheduled to be published in the coming days, this report is expected to highlight the challenges that face our electricity grid, as well as provide suggestions for policymakers like me who are working to ensure that recent changes to the grid do not jeopardize reliable power in the future.

One major challenge to grid reliability already seems clear. The U.S. coal-fired electric generating power plant fleet has gradually been eroded in recent years by new regulations and other factors. Today, a third of America’s coal fleet has either retired or has announced plans to shut down, due in large part to aggressive federal rules aimed at reducing coal’s use. In our state alone, 22 coal-fired electric generating units have already shut down or announced plans to close. Illinois isn’t alone. Other states are experiencing the same disturbing developments.

Historically, the U.S. electricity grid has relied on a diverse mix of electricity sources – coal, nuclear, natural gas and renewables. This strategy relies heavily on baseload sources, like coal-fired power plants, that are capable of producing power virtually around the clock. As a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, I recognize the value of coal to our state’s energy mix and support its continued use. Today, coal provides almost one-third of our state’s electricity, helping to keep Illinois’ electricity prices more than 10 percent below the national average.

Grid operators like PJM Interconnection, which serves the Chicago area, point out that depletions to our coal fleet make the electric grid less resilient. This means the grid we all count on is less capable of withstanding events like the Polar Vortex of 2014 and natural gas infrastructure outages. On the other hand, coal-fired power plants, with their stockpile of 85 days’ worth of fuel, have dependable supplies of fuel at the ready. This distinguishes coal from other sources of electricity, like natural gas power plants, which rely on pipelines to deliver their fuel on an as-needed basis. Having robust coal supplies onsite has proven critical to protecting the reliability of the grid in recent years. In fact, coal has been one of the few energy sources capable of delivering uninterrupted power when states like Illinois have been impacted by extreme winter weather events.

In the same way that diversifying an investment portfolio reduces risk, relying on a diverse mix of electricity sources that include coal, natural gas, nuclear and renewables makes the grid more stable and dependable. As policymakers make decisions about electricity sources, it is important they keep in mind the importance of the coal fleet to Illinois and the U.S.

State Rep. John M. Cabello is a Republican from Machesney Park.

See the article here.

Via The Detroit News:

Michigan will continue to need electricity produced at coal plants in the years ahead for a number of reasons. One is that while renewable energy is making large advances, it will still require coal-fired plants due to the intermittent generation of wind and solar power. Another is that nuclear energy will be a smaller source of power in the state. Finally, natural gas prices can fluctuate sufficiently that the movement to natural gas plants could be reversed at some time.

Solar and wind power are increasingly competitive with fossil fuels due to advances in technology. As an example, the price of solar panel installation has fallen by over 60 percent since 2008, from $8.82 per watt to $3.36 per watt. Solar panel efficiency has been increasing at a remarkable rate. The U.S. Department of Energy’s goal is to reduce the price of solar power to 6 cents per kilowatt hour by 2020. Moreover, Improvements in the structure of the electric utility industry in Michigan are possible that will increase the incentives for innovation and improve the renewable energy market.

While the percentage of power generated by coal has declined in Michigan, coal plants still account for more than a third of the state’s energy. And it is quite possible that electricity being wholesaled into Michigan will continue to come from coal-fired generators.

Nuclear power is not likely to replace coal. Last year 28 percent of the state’s net electricity generation was from Michigan’s three nuclear power plants. But Consumer’s Energy faces the loss of 10-20 percent of its electricity due to the scheduled shutdown of the Palisades nuclear plant next year. The Michigan Public Service Commission is asking Consumers where this power is going to come from. It is likely that at least a noticeable portion will come from coal.

One of the primary reasons for the decline in coal-fired generation has been the availability of low-cost natural gas resulting from advances in horizontal drilling and fracking. Natural gas prices have fallen substantially over the past years. However, natural gas prices have recently been on the rise, up more than 50 percent in the past 14 months.

This could be the beginning of price volatility in natural gas due to increase in demand and reductions in supply. U.S. exports of liquified natural gas have been rising exponentially. Exports have increased to 253,874 million cubic feet in May of this year from 17,776 million cubic feet in January of 2000. The dramatic increase in LNG exports has been good for the U.S. economy, and it’s been important for geopolitical reasons. It has enabled Ukraine, Poland and other countries that rely heavily on Russia for natural gas to break its grip on their economies.

Additional increases in demand for natural gas are coming from the manufacturing sector. Other factors, such as growth in the use of electric vehicles could also increase demand for electricity generation and put upward pressure on prices.

Meanwhile, natural gas production declined in 2016 from what it had been in 2015. This was the first time since 2005 that natural gas production fell from one year to the next. At the same time, some states have imposed regulations on fracking that will further reduce production. So it is conceivable that natural gas prices could be increasing over the next few years increasing the economic feasibility of coal-fired degeneration.

Our nation’s transition to renewable energy is probably inevitable — technology, cost, and consumer preferences are driving us there. However, in the meantime, we still need our lights to come on and assembly lines to run, and coal will continue to be part of our energy mix.

See the article here.

Via the Billings Gazette:

See the article here.

Via Lifezette: 

There’s plenty of talk these days among energy advocates and environmentalists about the need for natural gas to replace coal as the workhorse producer for America’s daily electricity needs. And coal has undoubtedly been on the ropes in recent years, with both expanded natural gas production and a host of federal regulations cutting coal plants and closing mines. But is the quest to end coal power a sound idea? And can natural gas really supplant coal in providing nationwide base load power generation?

For years, coal produced roughly half of America’s electricity. And it wasn’t until the start of the Obama Administration that the fracking revolution began to unleash more abundant and lower-priced natural gas.