IN THE NEWS: President Trump can't stop U.S. coal plants from retiring

Here's another example of the snake oil salesman's campaign promise of "making coal great again."
Wondering how the people in coal country are feeling about this. 

President Trump can't stop U.S. coal plants from retiring

Scott DiSavino
/Reuters/ January 14, 2019 /


(Reuters) - More U.S. coal-fired power plants were shut in President Donald Trump’s first two years than were retired in the whole of Barack Obama’s first term, despite the Republican’s efforts to prop up the industry to keep a campaign promise to coal-mining states.

In total, more than 23,400 megawatts (MW) of coal-fired generation were shut in 2017-2018 versus 14,900 MW in 2009-2012, according to data from Reuters and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Trump has tried to roll back rules on climate change and the environment adopted during the Obama administration to fulfill pledges to voters in states like West Virginia and Wyoming.
But the second highest year for coal shutdowns was in Trump’s second year, 2018, at around 14,500 megawatts, following a peak at about 17,700 megawatts in 2015 under Obama.

One megawatt can power about 1,000 U.S. homes.

The number of U.S. coal plants has continued to decline every year since coal capacity peaked at just over 317,400 MW in 2011, and is expected to keep falling as consumers demand power from cleaner and less expensive sources of energy.

Cheap natural gas and the rising use of renewable power like solar and wind have kept electric prices relatively low for years, making it uneconomic for generators to keep investing in older coal and nuclear plants.

Generators said they plan to shut around 8,422 MW of coal-fired power and 1,500 MW of nuclear in 2019, while adding 10,900 MW of wind, 8,200 MW of solar and 7,500 MW of gas, according to Reuters and EIA data.
The predictions come from estimates compiled by Thomson Reuters and U.S. Energy Information Administration data.

In the News: Coal Industry Dying as World Bank and JHU Pull Back

train cars of coal

  If you didn't know, and you live in Kentucky, West Virginia or other coal-oriented states, major investors in coal are now backing out of their investments, leaving the U.S. coal industry reeling.   
  During the week of Dec. 11, 2017 the World Bank and Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore are both dropping coal in the next couple of years.  Voters in the U.S. Coal Country thought that if they voted for Donald Trump who promised to resurrect their jobs, but the reality is that it isn't happening. The Coal Miners and U.S. Coal Industry were duped, and should have taken the job retraining offered by the candidate they didn't elect.

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STOPPING COAL INVESTMENTS

Johns Hopkins University will stop buying stocks and bonds of companies that produce coal for electric as a major part of their business.  The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, plans to stop investing in thermal coal because of concerns over the environmental and public health effects of climate change.Johns Hopkins’ board of trustees voted Friday to direct the university to stop buying stocks and bonds of companies that focus on producing coal for electric power.
  The university in Baltimore says it's only the third time in Johns Hopkins' history that the board has barred a particular type of investment because of broad social concerns. In the 1980s, Johns Hopkins divested from companies that did business in the then-apartheid state of South Africa. In 1991, the board ended all direct investment in tobacco company stocks and bonds.
PRESS RELEASE: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/maryland/articles/2017-12-12/johns-hopkins-university-backing-off-of-coal



WORLD BANK PULLING AWAY FROM COAL
Paris, 12 December, 2017 - At the One Planet Summit convened by President Emmanuel Macron of France, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, the World Bank Group made a number of new announcements in line with its ongoing support to developing countries for the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement’s goals.

Getting Away from Coal
Canada and the World Bank will work together to accelerate the energy transition in developing countries and, together with the International Trade Union Confederation, will provide analysis to support efforts towards a just transition away from coal.

Oil and gas
As a global multilateral development institution, the World Bank Group is continuing to transform its own operations in recognition of a rapidly changing world.  To align its support to countries to meet their Paris goals: The World Bank Group will no longer finance upstream oil and gas, after 2019.

DOCUMENT:  http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2017/12/12/world-bank-group-announcements-at-one-planet-summit?CID=ECR_TT_worldbank_EN_EXT_OnePlanet

A Lesson: Wind Power Blows By Coal in Usage from Texas

BP and Royal Dutch Shell operate TX wind farms. Cr: Houston Chronicle

   How ironic. Texas, a state that voted Republican, now cites that wind power accounts for a much higher percentage of energy generation than coal. It's ironic, because the current administration promised to create more jobs for the coal industry.  

  Perhaps the coal miners and coal industry will realize that their jobs really are not coming back, and that if they voted instead for the Democrat, they would have had job retraining and could have already been working somewhere again instead of waiting for false promises. At least Texas companies realize that pollution-free power generation is a better alternative.  

The LESSON: When you choose to believe anything without educating yourself, you become the fool. 

Wind power capacity has surpassed that of coal in Texas

  

Wind power, by one important measure, surpassed coal last week to become the second-largest electricity source in Texas, yet another milestone in the state's march toward greater reliance on renewable energy.

When a 155-megawatt wind farm in West Texas began commercial operation this month, it pushed the state's wind power capacity to more than 20,000 megawatts, surpassing 19,800 megawatts of capacity from coal-fired power plants, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which oversees 90 percent of the state's grid. One megawatt is enough to power 200 homes on a hot Texas day.

While ERCOT still gets most of its power from natural gas and coal, wind power generation now accounts for 15 percent of the power mix — up from just 2 percent a decade ago.

The imminent shutdown of three coal-fired power plants owned by Dallas-based Vistra Energy and the loss of their 4,000 megawatts of capacity will further tip the scales in wind's favor, said Joshua Rhodes, a research fellow at the University of Texas' Energy Institute in Austin. In October, Vistra announced the pending shutdowns of its Monticello, Big Brown and Sandow coal plants, triggering the loss of more than 800 jobs and the closure of two coal mines. The shutdown of the Vistra plants are the first retirements of coal-fired power plants since Texas deregulated power markets in 2002.

"We are used to seeing wind numbers add, add, add," Rhodes said. "We are not used to seeing coal plants' numbers decreasing."

Source: Houston Chronicle