Coal boosters who hope carbon capture technology will ensure the fuel’s future will find little support in a new report conducted for planners in the Eastern Interconnection.
EPA’s proposed New Source Performance Standards for greenhouse gases will likely make it impossible to permit new coal-fired generation that doesn’t include Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology.
But the report notes that the Department of Energy’s flagship CCS project, FutureGen in Illinois, “has experienced multiple delays and changes of scope and design [and] its prospects remain uncertain.”
Even if CCS becomes economical, the report concludes, the higher capital costs of coal generators means CCS “may be first deployed on natural gas plants before coal-fired plants, if natural gas prices remain low.”
“… Any state-level incentives to support coal mining and encourage the use of coal face an uphill battle in contending with these challenges.”
The report also predicts the retirement of more than 50 GW of current plants between 2013 and 2016, in addition to the approximately 12 GW retired during 2010 through 2012. Of the 269 GW of coal capacity in the Eastern Interconnection, about one-third is located in five states that fall all or partly within PJM: Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Illinois and West Virginia. The average age of coal units in these states will be nearly 50 years by 2015.
The study, “Current State and Future Direction of Coal-fired Power in the Eastern Interconnection,” was conducted by ICF International for the Eastern Interconnection States’ Planning Council and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) with funding from DOE.
More: Full Report; Summary
