Published: August 31, 2017 |

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U.S. Energy Department officials said Wednesday the government should make it easier and cheaper to operate power plants, including coal and nuclear plants, to strengthen the nation’s electric grid.

The department said in a new report that the closure of many plants that once formed the backbone of the grid has raised the risk that consumers might not have reliable electricity.

In a letter accompanying the report, Energy Secretary Rick Perry said the U.S. is fortunate to have many sources of energy and should use them all.

In a key recommendation, the report urges the federal government to make licensing and permitting faster and cheaper for facilities “such as nuclear, hydro, coal, advanced generation technologies and transmission.”

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., released a statement saying the report reflects the reality that there are areas of real concern regarding coal and the nation’s electric grid.

“I am very pleased that Secretary Perry and the Department of Energy released this report examining the potential for reliability and resiliency issues within our electricity supply and delivery systems,” Manchin said. “I urge my colleagues to recognize that without coal, our country will face a reliability crisis in the very near term.”

Manchin says this study recognizes the reality that today’s electric markets and market rules have tilted the playing field against traditional baseload generation, particularly nuclear and coal-fired power plants.

“These plants deliver 24/7 reliable, resilient power across our nation, but they are increasingly disadvantaged due to a number of factors,” he said. “Coal has long been the workhorse of the electric sector, and EIA projects that it will continue to be leaned on for years to come, alongside natural gas, nuclear and renewable sources. As Americans, we are increasingly reliant on electricity to grow our economy and maintain our way of life. It is imperative that we stay vigilant in ensuring that baseload power plants are able to compete in order to truly achieve an all-of-the-above energy mix.”

Environmentalists and advocates for renewable energy have been bracing for the report since drafts leaked to the press in recent weeks.

Some observers think the Energy Department will use the study to argue that fossil-fuel plants are needed to make the grid reliable, and that policies promoting renewables should be cut back.

Jim Marston, an official with the Environmental Defense Fund, said the Energy Department was “twisting facts to reach a predetermined conclusion in favor of coal.” He said the agency ignored evidence from California that solar energy is reliable.

On the other side, Paul Bailey, CEO of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, praised the report.

“One of the biggest challenges is how to preserve the nation’s coal fleet so it can continue supporting a reliable and resilient electricity grid,” Bailey said.

The U.S. energy market has undergone dramatic changes in the past 15 years. About 15 percent of the generating capacity that existed in 2002 has been retired, including many coal-fired plants that were replaced by plants burning cheap natural gas. Natural gas replaced coal as the leading fuel for electricity in 2016, but coal retook the top spot by a thin margin in the first quarter of 2017.

Wind and solar power have also undermined coal and nuclear, the Energy Department report concluded. Helped by federal tax credits and favorable state policies, the department said, renewables have lower variable costs than so-called baseload plants — the coal and nuclear behemoths that steadily churned out electricity at high rates for many years.

The Energy Department report also heaped blame on environmental regulations. It said the largest number of coal plant retirements occurred in 2015, the deadline for operators to install new pollution-control equipment.

Perry ordered the report back in April, saying a review of electricity reliability and markets was overdue.

In a cover letter to the 187-page report, Perry said, “We must utilize the most effective combination of energy sources with an ‘all of the above’ approach to achieve long-term, reliable American energy security.” He has said that the Trump administration would pursue policies that promote reliable and affordable electricity from diverse energy sources.

Other coal executives have urged similar government intervention to save their businesses. In a speech last week, the CEO of Peabody Energy Corp., the nation’s largest coal producer, also said a two-year moratorium on coal-plant closures was needed.

In West Virginia, Gov. Jim Justice claimed he developed a plan to put tens of thousands of coal miners back to work in West Virginia and across Appalachia, while providing a critical addition to national security and the stabilization of the Eastern Seaboard’s power grid.

Justice, whose family has interests in several coal mines in the region, said then that he has already met with Trump and has presented his plan that calls for $4.5 billion annually in federal funding to power companies that burn steam coal mined in Northern and Central Appalachia. It calls for federal funding to pay Eastern power plants $15 for each ton of thermal coal they buy from the Central or Northern Appalachian region, which includes states such as West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

President Donald Trump has vowed to revive the coal industry. The administration has rolled back some energy regulations and Trump announced he will withdraw the U.S. from the Paris accord on controlling climate change.

However, the Trump administration rejected a coal industry push to issue a rarely used emergency order protecting coal-fired power plants.

The Energy Department decided the order is unnecessary, and the White House agreed, according to the AP.

Source: The Herald Dispatch

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