Utah. Gov. Spencer Cox last month (Mar. 21) signed legislation to keep the giant coal-fired Intermountain Power Plant operating in the western part of the Beehive State. The Intermountain Power Authority, the public power system that owns the 1,900-MW, two-unit generator, plans to shut it down next year. The legislation may run afoul of federal law, including the Clean Air Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
Cox has acknowledged the problem of conflicts with the federal government, suggesting a special legislative session may be necessary to work out the thorny details. At a news conference with Utah PBS, Cox said, “If there are opportunities to keep those facilities running, we’re going to want to exhaust every potential, every possibility out there, making sure that we’re complying with environmental regulations that are in place and seeing if we could thread that needle. We’ll continue working very closely with IPP, we’ll be continuing to work closely with regulators.”
Under the new law, the state can buy the plant from the Intermountain Power Agency if another buyer cannot be found, in order to keep it running. The state created the IPA in 1977. It is a cooperative of 23 municipalities in Utah and 6 in California. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power operates the plant.
IPA has an agreement with the U.S. EPA under the Clean Air Act to shutter the plant by July 1, 2025. The public power agency has been working on a plan to replace the capacity with a variety of resources. Under S.B. 161, by July IPA must apply for a state permit to keep the plant running. While the legislature was considering the law, IPA Chair Nick Tatton wrote to Cox, “By committing to submit an application for an Alternative Permit by July 1, 2024, IPA would risk EPA action to effectively shut down the existing coal-fired facilities by mid-November 2024.”
Tatton added that IPA also has a deal with EPA to bring the plant’s coal ash ponds into compliance with RCRA regulations. Breaking the deal could also close the plant. “The risk is real. EPA has taken similar action with respect to coal-fired generating facilities in other states, issuing orders for those facilities to cease operating their impoundments within 135 days. The only way for IPA to comply with such a mandate would be to cease burning coal — and producing electricity — altogether.”
Tennessee. The federal Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation’s largest public power system, has historically been dominated by coal and nuclear generation. TVA’s nuclear fleet has been in a long decline since the 1980s. The role of coal has more recently been flagging. TVA last week (April 2) announced it will close its iconic coal-fired, nine-unit,1,300-MW Kingston coal plant by “the end of 2027.”
A TVA feature article said, “The TVA coal fleet is among the oldest in the nation. Kingston is becoming increasingly difficult to operate, TVA leaders say, because the age and condition of the units create environmental, economic and reliability challenges. Kingston will be the 10th coal plant retired by TVA, and the eighth since 2012.” The demise of Kingston will leave just three coal-fired plants in the TVA system.
In its final environmental impact statement, TVA noted that “the age and deteriorating conditions of TVA’s coal facilities and equipment are increasing the frequency of performance challenges making it more difficult to adapt the existing fleet’s generation output to meet changes in TVA’s energy demand profile.” Power magazine reported that TVA has increasingly been operating the plant in cycling mode. TVA said that plant “was not designed for these types of operations, which presents reliability challenges that are difficult to anticipate and expensive to mitigate.”
TVA plans to replace Kingston with a 500-MW gas-fired combined cycle generator, 16 combustion turbines, a new switchyard, up to 4-MW of solar, 100-MW of lithium-ion battery storage, and a new transmission line. Supporting that new generation, East Tennessee Natural Gas will build, own, and operate a new 122-mile gas pipeline, compressor station, and metering and regulation.
Outside of the TVA region, Kingston is probably best known for the Dec. 22, 2008 failure of a dike at the plant’s coal ash waste pond, the largest industrial spill in U.S. history, spewing out some 5.4 million cubic yards of gray sludge damaging a score of private buildings, eventually reaching the Clinch River miles away. The event cost TVA more than a billion dollars and seven years to clean up. It also prompted the Obama administration’s EPA to issue new, tougher rules on coal ash ponds.
Texas. The Lone Star State has long been known for its political devotion to fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. Those sources of BTUs have long been the backbone of the state’s fleet of electric generating plants. They are still beloved by many of the state’s most important politicians. The Texas Railroad Commission, which governs oil and gas, not rails, has long been among the most powerful of the state’s governmental institutions.
As a practical matter, the state is well-suited to wind and solar electric generation. In Texas, the wind keeps sweeping over the plains, particularly in southern Texas. Most recently, solar has become the load star compared to coal’s shaky throne.
The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis reports that in March, solar eclipsed coal as a share of the generating mix. The sun topped 10%, said IEEFA, while coal lagged at 9.1%, based on figures from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which serves some 90% of the state’s electric demand.
The report by analysts Dennis Wamsted and Seth Feaster notes, “First, solar generation topped coal’s output for the first time in any month, sending 3.26 million megawatt-hours (MWh) onto the grid vs. the 2.96 million MWh supplied by coal. Second, coal’s market share fell below 10% for the first time ever, to just over 9%.”
These numbers are not an anomaly, says IEEFA: “While solar has been climbing steadily…, there has been a notable pickup lately. Generation in March 2024 was 1.17 million MWh more than a year ago, a 56% increase, and the growth will continue. ERCOT data shows that the system currently has 22,710 megawatts (MW) of operational solar capacity but is expected to expand by almost one-third by the end of the year as another 7,168 MW of capacity is added.”
–Kennedy Maize