22Mar

Handcuffed to Natural Gas Volatility

Can U.S. natural gas be two maddeningly contradictory things at the same time? The answer appears to be a resounding yes. The nation’s supply of natural gas has become both the crutch of the U.S. energy system and also an energy affordability and reliability landmine. Once persistent fears of natural gas shortages were turned on […]
17Mar

Kentuckians Are Paying a High Price for Closing Coal-Fired Power Plants

Via RealClearEnergy:Between 2011 and 2022, residential customers of Kentucky Power saw their electric bills increase by 78 percent – from 9 cents per kilowatt hour to 16 cents per kilowatt hour. This increase coincided with the shutdown of the company’s Big Sandy coal-fired power plant and its conversion to natural gas. Meanwhile, residential customers of […]
17Mar

Why coal is necessary

Via The Register-Herald: As the nation’s transition to renewable energy gains speed, with the rapid deployment of wind and solar power and grid-scale batteries, a misguided idea is taking hold. There’s no longer any need for coal generation and coal mining in the United States. There are major benefits from electricity produced at coal plants […]
16Mar

COAL TO The Rescue in Europe

The Wall Street Journal recently pointed out an uncomfortable truth for the keep-it-in-the-ground crowd: Germany avoided energy shortfalls over the past year by turning to coal. In fact, for the second year running, coal use in Germany has grown. Coal now provides a full third of the nation’s power as use of natural gas has […]
09Mar

Why Coal Is Necessary

Via DC Journal: As the nation’s transition to renewable energy gains speed, with the rapid deployment of wind and solar power and grid-scale batteries, a misguided idea is taking hold. There’s no longer any need for coal generation and coal mining in the United States. There are major benefits from electricity produced at coal plants and mining. Coal will […]
08Mar

The Great Coal Disconnect

British consumers should be furious. Energy bills have all but wrecked the economy and delivered searing pain for households. Britain’s rush to slash its use of coal – that as of a decade ago met 40% of the nation’s power – left the nation extraordinarily exposed to the natural gas price spikes that came with […]
01Mar

PJM Sounds the Capacity Shortfall Alarm

The nation’s largest electricity market is warning that it will face a steep capacity shortfall by the close of the decade as forced power plant retirements far outpace planned additions. Policy-driven closures of primarily coal plants threaten to leave PJM Interconnection – which serves 65 million Americans in 13 states and the District of Columbia […]
23Feb

Mines for Manufacturing Tomorrow’s Steel

The pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the energy and supply chain crises that followed, have all upended trade flows and commodity markets, requiring a near moment-to-moment focus on near-term market conditions with supply shocks and inflationary pressure driving unprecedented policy responses. While the shocks still reverberate, there’s now room for a return to long-term […]
22Feb

The start of a U.S. power grid crisis?

Via The Pottstown Mercury: First it was California. Then Texas. Now it’s much of the nation. America’s electric grid — and its reliable supply of power — are in trouble. It once seemed unthinkable but we’re approaching a time when blackouts could become a regular occurrence in the United States. According to the North American […]
15Feb

Does the EPA Care at All About Grid Reliability?

In July of last year, 26 House Republicans sent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan a letter asking for details on the agency’s efforts to assess the potential grid reliability threats posed by EPA’s regulatory agenda. Among other detailed questions, the letter asked what work had been done to coordinate with the Federal […]