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Trump Takes Credit For Utility Steadfastness On Closing Coal Plants

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Here we are again, discussing the future of coal – this time as it relates to CO2 emissions and the fact that emissions have fallen in the United States. And as usual, President Trump finds himself in the middle trying to take credit.

So here is what’s really happening.

Despite having pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord, a report from the Environmental Protection Agency (as reported by Reuters) suggests that CO2 levels have fallen in the United States by 2.7% in 2017, even more than the 2% it fell in 2016.

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Interim EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler took the opportunity to crow about how the extra 0.7% was the result of the excellent Trump policies on the environment. As he said in a press release:

“Thanks to President Trump’s regulatory reform agenda, the economy is booming, energy production is surging, and we are reducing greenhouse gas emissions from major industrial sources.”

Which is a nice narrative, particularly if you’re hellbent on removing all environmental protections as EPA administrator. But here’s where the story falls apart just a little bit.

As we (and every other solar publication) had reported, U.S. utilities have not slowed down their plans to close coal plants, and they are only accelerating those plans as the years move forward. In part, that’s because they can replace these fossil fuel plants with clean, renewable energy like solar and wind.

As Reuters susses out, that’s the real reason for the additional reductions in greenhouse gases:

While Wheeler gave the administration credit for the reductions, which mainly came from the power sector, the numbers also underscore that the administration has not been able to stop the rapid pace of coal plant shutdowns … Natural gas releases far less carbon dioxide when burned than coal and a domestic abundance of gas has driven a wave of closures of coal plants. In 2017 utilities shut or converted from coal-to-gas nearly 9,000 megawatts (MW) of coal plants.

Now, it’s important to note that an unexpected drop in carbon emissions from the United States is still a good thing, and kudos to the utilities who have already recognized that the age of fossil fuels is rapidly fading.

But it does stick in the craw a little bit when the administration that’s taking credit for it is still running around talking about “beautiful, clean coal” and other pro-coal nonsensical blather. Let’s give credit where credit is due and not where it is not.

(It should also be noted that the Trump administration, for all its crowing, may finally be recognizing the futility of keeping uneconomic coal plants open.)

More:

U.S. greenhouse emissions fell in 2017 as coal plants shut

Could The Coal/Nuke Bailout Be Dead? Definitely, Maybe

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

It’s been an article of faith among President Donald Trump supporters that he was going to – come hell or high water – “save” the coal industry. As part of that plan, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and his merry team have been working for months on a bailout plan that would use taxpayer money to support failing coal and nuclear plants.

The solar industry has been living with this sword of Damocles this entire time, just waiting for the inevitable announcement of a policy that seemed set in stone.

Well hold up – that stone may not quite be set yet, at least as far as Politico is concerned.

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According to insiders that spoke to the online news outlet on the condition of anonymity, the plan has run into opposition within the White House itself, specifically with members of the National Security Council and National Economic Council.

Word is that President Trump hasn’t officially weighed in against the proposal, but that he’s willing to go along with his advisors who oppose the plan, at least for now (as Politico notes, President Trump has been known to change his mind and that it is possible the plan could come back as part of his re-election strategy in 2020).

In a “too bad, so sad” moment, Politico reports that “the stalemate is frustrating the politically active coal mining companies that backed Trump’s presidential campaign and lobbied heavily for an economic lifeline for their industry.” (By economic lifeline, they mean a taxpayer-funded bailout.)

But as has been noted elsewhere, coal has been focusing its energies on fighting the wrong alternative. Solar and wind were never the monsters that were eating coal’s lunch; that was the natural gas industry. And once you riled up the oil-and-gas industries against you, your bailout was all but finished.

One has to feel a little sorry for West Virginia Congressional members, who took Trump at his word that he would do everything he could to “save” the coal industry. Politico discusses some of the hurt feelings that are now percolating after this most recent decisions to shelve the plan (at least temporarily):

“I’m trying to find the darn plan because I understand it’s gone from the Department of Energy over to the White House, and I don’t know who in the White House would be sitting on it for whatever reason,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) told reporters last week.

This story could change at a moment’s notice if Trump suddenly changes his mind or decides to break with his closest advisors. But for now, it seems like the plan to rescue uneconomical coal and nuke plants with a taxpayer funded bailout may not come to fruition.

Xcel Energy Wins Approval For Aggressive Renewable Growth (And Closing A Third Of Its Coal Plants)

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Yesterday, we wrote about how utilities didn’t seem all that enthusiastic about the new rules the Trump Administration had laid out to weaken regulation on coal plants. In fact, most of the utilities discussed in the article reaffirmed their commitment to growing their renewable portfolios at varying speeds.

And today we have another real-life example of the shift that is coming in utilities’ attitudes both toward traditional coal plants and renewable energy.

Xcel Energy, Colorado’s largest utility, won approval from the Public Utilities Commission to ramp up its investments in renewable energy to to the tune of nearly 2,000 MW of solar and wind and 300 MW of battery storage.

Oh, and in the process, they’ve also pledged to close nearly one-third of their coal plants, according to an article in The Denver Post.

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As The Post notes:

As part of the plan, Xcel, Colorado’s largest electric utility, will phase out its Comanche 1 and 2 coal-fired plants in Pueblo about a decade earlier than the original target date of 2035. Xcel says the plan will invest $2.5 billion in eight counties and save customers about $213 million, thanks to the declining costs of renewable energy.

The breakdown of the renewables is as follows:

1,100 MW of wind
700 MW of solar
275 MW of battery storage

Company officials were delighted by the PUC’s decision and said they looked forward to a clean-energy future for Colorado.

“The Colorado Energy Plan Portfolio is a transformative plan that delivers on our vision of long-term, low-cost clean renewable energy for our customers, stimulating economic development in rural Colorado, and substantially reducing our carbon emissions,” Alice Jackson, Xcel Energy Colorado president, said in a written statement. “We are excited to move forward.”

Colorado has long been a renewable energy leader. It was one of the first states to experiment with community solar, and its solar and wind development has continued apace, even when policies didn’t ideally line up with the overall renewable energy goals. Now with Xcel Energy making such a large commitment, you’ll likely see other state utilities get on board, which could drive Colorado further up the list of solar-friendly states in the country. One can only hope these developments spur that kind of reaction.

More:

Colorado regulators green-light Xcel’s plan boosting renewables, cutting coal

Utilities To Trump EPA : Thanks But No Thanks To Your Coal-Saving Efforts

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

They don’t mean to seem ungrateful, but …

At the Electrification 2018 conference, Greentech Media was anxious to find out how utilities felt about the new rules surrounding easing regulations on coal plants. Would they turn away from renewable energy and decide to keep their failing coal plants open? Would they slow the pace of renewable energy purchases? Would this signal the end to renewable energy as we know it?

Well, what the Greentech Media editors (which surprised no one, including them) is that most utilities, no matter where they were in the United States, remained committed to closing coal plants and purchasing more renewable energy, though they did appear thankful that the federal government was turning regulation of the coal plants back over to the states.

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Just a couple of samples (read the entire article for the full discussion, and it is 100% worth your time) of what utilities told the Greentech Media team:

American Electric Power:

“AEP said it will continue to pursue lower carbon dioxide emissions “through a variety of actions” that include renewables, efficiency, natural gas and demand response. The utility will continue to “review the rule,” but offered a positive take on keeping coal plants running.”

Southern Company:

“But going forward, we want to do that while transitioning to the low- to no-carbon future. We have come out and stated that Southern Company wants to be a low- to no-carbon future by 2050. We believe that’s also what our customers want from us.”

This reaction comes as no surprise to anyone who has watched the renewable vs. coal battle over the past several years. This is not the first time the federal government has tried to make it easier for energy companies to keep coal plants open, and yet they are still committed to moving forward with further renewable energy purchasing and building. The battle has been won by renewable energy, and there’s no going back. Just ask the utilities – most of them would wholeheartedly agree.

More:

Utilities Recommit to Clean Energy in the Wake of the Trump Administration’s Regulatory Rollback