U.S. Coal-Fired Generating Capacity to Drop Below Half of 2022 Levels by 2050: EIA

May 16, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
May 16, 2023

U.S. coal-fired generating capacity will drop below half of 2022 levels by 2050, the Energy Information Administration said.

In a scenario assuming higher zero-carbon technology costs than in its base case, called the Reference case, EIA projects coal-fired capacity drops 52% to 97 gigawatts by 2050.

In the Reference case, coal-fired capacity falls 64% to 73 GW by 2050. “In another scenario where we assume lower zero-carbon technology costs than in the Reference case, we project coal-fired capacity falls 88% to 23 GW by midcentury.”

In its Annual Energy Outlook 2023, EIA explores long-term energy trends in the United States and offers an outlook for energy markets through 2050. It uses different scenarios, called cases, to understand how varying assumptions affect energy trends.

In a High Zero-Carbon Technology Cost case, EIA assumes technology costs for zero-carbon resources such as renewables, nuclear, and battery storage will stay flat at their 2022 levels through 2050. This assumption results in less retirement of coal-fired generating capacity. In a Low Zero-Carbon Technology Cost case, EIA assumes the cost of zero-carbon technologies declines by about 40% by 2050 compared with the Reference case.

All AEO2023 cases, including the Reference, Low ZTC, and High ZTC cases, reflect laws and regulations adopted through mid-November, including the Inflation Reduction Act, which provides tax credits for zero-emission technologies that further reduce the cost of resources such as solar and wind.

The 52% to 88% drop in total coal-fired capacity includes about 99 GW to 159 GW of retiring coal-fired capacity and a small amount of coal-fired capacity projected to be converted to natural gas-fired capacity. Of the retirements, 61 GW come from coal-fired plants that owners and operators have already announced plans to retire.

Various factors such as an aging coal fleet, environmental regulations, and competition from natural gas-fired, solar, and wind plants have contributed to the declining economics of coal-fired capacity, EIA said.

In the High ZTC case, coal produces 8% of U.S. electricity generation in 2050 compared with a combined 40% from solar and wind, 31% from natural gas, and 13% from nuclear.

In the Reference case, the combined share from solar and wind grows to 55% of total generation by 2050 with smaller shares of 5% from coal, 22% from natural gas, and 11% from nuclear.

In the Low ZTC case, solar and wind generate 69% of electricity in 2050 compared with only 1% from coal, 11% from natural gas, and 12% from nuclear.

“The coal-fired generation in all three cases comes from the newer, more efficient coal-fired power plants that will remain online because they can provide lower-cost, dispatchable power to the grid,” EIA said.

Research Quantifies Value of Existing Nuclear Power Plants in Push for Decarbonization

May 15, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
May 15, 2023

A Pacific Northwest National Laboratory analysis quantifies for the first time the value of existing nuclear power plants in the U.S. in the context of meeting deep decarbonization goals.

PNNL detailed the research findings in a recent post on its website, noting that the research was led by PNNL Earth scientist Son Kim with the Joint Global Change Research Institute (JGCRI), a partnership between PNNL and the University of Maryland.

The report notes that nuclear power is currently the single largest carbon-free source of electricity in the United States.

Nuclear plants in the U.S. slated to close by 2050 “could be among the most important players in a challenge that requires all carbon-free technology solutions that are available—emerging and existing—the report finds. New nuclear technology also has a part to play, and its contributions could be boosted by driving down construction costs,” PNNL said.

“Our existing nuclear power plants are aging and with their current 60-year lifetimes, nearly all of them will be gone by 2050. It’s ironic. We have a net zero goal to reach by 2050, yet our single largest source of carbon-free electricity is at risk of closure,“ said Kim.

Kim used the Global Change Analysis Model developed at PNNL to model multiple scenarios of extending the lifetime of the existing nuclear fleet into 2100.

Kim’s research, which was published in Nuclear Technology, put a value on lifetime license extensions from 40 to 100 years at $330 billion to $500 billion in mitigation cost savings under a scenario that limits global temperature to 2°C.

Mitigation cost savings, or the carbon value, are amounts of dollars saved in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Legacy nuclear reactors alone have a carbon value of $500 billion if operational for 100 years, PNNL noted. Every gigawatt of energy, or one nuclear power reactor, translates to $5 billion later saved. Because that gigawatt was produced without any carbon emitted into Earth’s atmosphere, no money would need to be spent to mitigate its effects, PNNL said.

Kim determined that lifetime extensions of existing nuclear power reactors from 60 to 80 years, without adding new nuclear capacity, contributed to a reduction of approximately 0.4 gigatons of carbon emissions per year by 2050.

The total cumulative difference in CO2 emissions between 2020 and 2100, in a scenario with lifetime extensions and future deployment of nuclear power plants (as compared to a scenario with a moratorium on new nuclear power plants), amounts to as much as 57 gigatons of carbon.

Construction Starts on 48-MW Power Generating Unit in Lodi, California

May 12, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
May 12, 2023

Enchanted Rock LLC recently began construction of a 48-megawatt power generating unit adjacent to the City of Lodi Water Treatment Plant in Lodi, Calif. The power plant is scheduled to be operational by the end of summer 2023.

This effort is being led and fully funded by the California Department of Water Resources as part of California’s Strategic Reliability Reserve Program, an effort to safeguard the state’s energy system in the face of drought, wildfires, and heat waves that are impacting California’s energy grid.     

The new power plant will only be used in extreme peak demand events to provide temporary power generation to stabilize and supplement existing grid-tied power supplies to avoid grid failures both statewide and locally. 

Lodi Electric Utility staff will be installing the necessary electrical infrastructure to support these efforts, the cost of which will be fully reimbursed by DWR.  

“The City of Lodi is dedicated to providing the community with affordable, reliable energy and this project will help mitigate power import constraints in Lodi during extreme weather events and local emergencies until upgrades are completed to Lodi’s transmission intertie with PG&E as part of the Northern San Joaquin 230 kV Transmission Project,” the public power city said.

Santee Cooper Board Approves 2023 Integrated Resource Plan

May 12, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
May 12, 2023

The Santee Cooper Board of Directors on May 9 approved the utility’s 2023 integrated resource plan, including a preferred energy portfolio that significantly reduces Santee Cooper’s carbon footprint and prioritizes flexibility, reliability and affordability in meeting customers’ future power needs.

The board also approved submitting the IRP to the South Carolina Public Service Commission on May 15 for the Commission to begin its review process. 

The IRP summarizes 18 months of detailed analysis of various resource options and combinations to develop the preferred portfolio.

Key components of that portfolio, envisioned to be implemented by the mid-2030s, include:

• Adding over 3,000 megawatts (MW) of solar power.
• Adding 1,000 – 1,400 MW of natural gas combined cycle capacity, in part to replace coal-fired power slated to be retired. 
• The already announced retirement of the coal-fired Winyah Generating Station, timed to coincide with availability of the new natural gas resource and involving a parallel community-driven transition process.
• Adding 350 MW of innovative battery storage technology to increase flexibility in meeting resource needs.
• Adding 447 MW of combustion turbine units, also to increase flexibility.
• Reducing Santee Cooper’s carbon emissions rate by 56% from 2005 levels, with further reductions as more solar comes online.

The preferred portfolio includes flexibility to allow for a joint build with Dominion Energy South Carolina of a new natural gas unit, which the two utilities are exploring for potential economies of scale and other efficiencies.

The preferred portfolio also can adjust as necessary to include dispatch of customer-provided resources, in particular power purchase agreements proposed by Central Electric Power Cooperative, Santee Cooper’s largest customer, Santee Cooper said.

The 2023 IRP reflects input by customers and other stakeholders gathered during five public meetings, held from March 2022 to April 2023, and hundreds of comments and questions offered throughout the public input process. Additional technical meetings were also held as requested by stakeholder groups. 

Santee Cooper and its consultants analyzed several resource portfolios, including a lowest-cost option, a no-new-carbon option, an option that retired all coal units by 2033, and a net-zero-by-2050 option.

The preferred portfolio aligns closely with the lowest-cost portfolio but includes more battery storage, accelerated implementation of solar resources, and fewer gas-fired combustion turbines.

More information about Santee Cooper’s 2023 IRP is available at www.santeecooper.com/IRP, and that site will be updated once the final version is filed May 15 and throughout the regulatory review process.

Microsoft Agrees to Buy Energy from Nuclear Fusion Plant

May 11, 2023

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
May 11, 2023

Privately held Helion Energy recently announced an agreement to provide Microsoft with electricity from a nuclear fusion power plant the company hopes to have online by 2028.

Constellation will serve as the power marketer and will manage transmission for the project. The fusion plant will be sited at a yet-to-be-determined location in Washington State, the company said.

When it comes online, Helion said its fusion plant would target power generation of 50 megawatts or greater after a one year ramp up period. The planned operational date for this first of its kind facility is significantly sooner than typical projections for deployment of commercial fusion power, Helion said.

Since the 1940s, researchers and engineers have sought come up with a viable nuclear fusion plant as an alternative to the nuclear fission process used in all nuclear power plants worldwide. Unlike fission, nuclear fusion does not produce long-lived radioactive nuclear waste. Only in recent years, however, have scientists been able to maintain a sustained fusion reaction.

And only last year was fusion ignition achieved when scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory conducted the first controlled fusion experiment in which more energy was produced from fusion than the laser energy used to drive the reaction.

Everett, Wash., based Helion has built six working prototypes of its fusion reactor and says it was the first private fusion company to reach 100-million-degree plasma temperatures with its sixth fusion prototype. The company is currently building its seventh prototype, with which it expects to demonstrate the ability to produce electricity in 2024.

Last March, Constellation announced a collaboration with Microsoft on the development of an around the clock energy matching technology that aims to match a customer’s power needs with local carbon dioxide free energy sources, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Midwestern Coalition Submits Bid for Clean Hydrogen Hub Funding

May 10, 2023

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
May 10, 2023

The Great Lakes Clean Hydrogen Hub coalition is the latest regional group to submit a proposal for a share of the $8 billion in federal funds from the Department of Energy’s regional clean hydrogen hub program.

In April, seven Northeast states submitted a bid to compete for a $1.25 billion share of the clean hydrogen hub funding made available under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Also in April, the Southeast Hydrogen Hub, comprised of Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities, Southern Company, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and Battelle Memorial Institute, submitted a bid for clean hydrogen hub funding.

The Great Lakes Clean Hydrogen Hub’s application details a $2 billion plan to create a clean hydrogen hub to serve Ohio, Michigan, and portions of Pennsylvania and Indiana. The coalition said its proposed project would use carbon dioxide-free nuclear power to produce clean hydrogen at a competitive cost and, because it would use proven production technologies, would minimize the time required to achieve full production of 100-plus metric tonnes of hydrogen per day.

The Great Lakes Clean Hydrogen is led by Linde, a global industrial gases and engineering company, and includes Energy Harbor, a power generation company that owns nuclear plants in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia; steel producer Cleveland-Cliffs; GE Aerospace; the University of Toledo, and the Glass Manufacturing Industry Council.

The coalition said its composition offers shovel ready opportunities to replace fossil fuels with clean hydrogen and it has been working with the states of Ohio and Michigan, technology suppliers, hydrogen consumers, state and regional academic institutions, national laboratories, and nonprofit organizations.

The group said it aims to help major industries across the Midwest to decarbonize and also plans to serve the hydrogen needs of the mobility market, including trucking, transit buses, rail, aviation, and marine.

In November 2022, Salt River Project, along with other members of the Center for an Arizona Carbon-Neutral Economy, submitted a concept paper for federal funding of clean hydrogen initiatives.

And in March 2022, the governors of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming signed a memorandum of understanding for the development of a regional clean hydrogen hub that would be funded under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

LS Power to Acquire 2.1 GW Natural Gas Generation Portfolio from Brazos Electric

May 8, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
May 8, 2023

LS Power on May 8 announced it has reached an agreement with Brazos Electric Power Cooperative to acquire 2,145 megawatts of natural gas generation in the ERCOT North region of Texas through a special purpose affiliate.

The portfolio features dual-fuel capability, meaningful on-site fuel oil storage and firm gas transport and storage arrangements, LS Power said.

The three generation projects are  Jack County (Two baseload combined cycle blocks totaling 1,297 MW located in Jack County, TX); Johnson County (a 280 MW combined cycle plant located in Johnson County, TX); and RW Miller (Four peaking units totaling 568 MW located in Palo Pinto County, TX)

Johnson County and RW Miller are dual-fuel resources with on-site fuel oil storage that provides important fuel security during periods of gas scarcity, while Jack County benefits from firm gas transport as well as firm storage arrangements.

The transaction is expected to close in early June upon receipt of customary regulatory approvals.

LADWP Crews Prepare for Runoff from Record Snowpack Melt

April 28, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 28, 2023

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power on April 25 said it has begun preparing early for this year’s runoff based on lessons learned from the last extreme wet year in 2017.

The historic snowpack levels in the Eastern Sierra of 296 percent of normal translates into runoff that is 233 percent of normal, LADWP said. That translates into one million acre feet, or 326-billion gallons of water that will need to be managed.

The runoff season is expected to last through the summer months, requiring significant preparation work and coordination with partner agencies in the Eastern Sierra to implement public safety measures to mitigate the potential for flooding, the utility reported.

“We have had crews and personnel making the necessary preparations since last December and are ready to respond when the snow begins to melt,” said Anselmo Collins, Senior Assistant General Manager of LADWP’s Water System. “A typical runoff season can last anywhere from May to June. However, with our record snowpack this year and the volume of water that translates into once the snow melts, the season may push through to August.”

“We have already begun managing excess flows by spreading water throughout the aqueduct system to replenish local groundwater aquifers, and maximizing flows in the LA Aqueduct by emptying reservoirs to create more storage space for runoff waters,” said Adam Perez, LADWP’s Aqueduct Manager. “This allows us to supply Los Angeles with aqueduct water in place of purchased and pumped water wherever possible.”

Currently, approximately 130 billion gallons of water is expected to make its way to Los Angeles this spring and summer via the Los Angeles Aqueduct, potentially enough to meet 80 percent of LA’s annual demand, to serve more than 1 million LA households for a year, LADWP said.

The utility said that despite these efforts, a high volume of runoff will still remain in the Eastern Sierra and require management efforts. Additional emergency hires have been put in place to support the increased construction and operational needs. Equipment, such as excavators, backhoes, and in-flow meters, have also been purchased and strategically placed in key locations to expedite response during the runoff season.

Other preparation work includes repairing diversion structures damaged during heavy rainfall earlier this year to ready spreading grounds to receive the runoff; repairing and cleaning ditches that receive the runoff; and shoring up areas of Owens Lake to minimize the expected damage rising water levels may pose to dust mitigation infrastructure.

Department of Energy Laboratories Test Virtual Nuclear-Renewable Hybrid Plant

April 27, 2023

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
April 27, 2023

Two national laboratories have completed a test of a virtual nuclear-renewable hybrid power plant.

The test involved a solar array, battery storage system, hydrogen fuel electrolyzer, and a controllable grid interface at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., connected via a high-speed fiber optic network to simulations of a small modular nuclear reactor and high-temperature electrolysis unit at Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems and its partners, NuScale Power Fluor Corporation, and the Department of Energy, are developing a small modular reactor project at an Idaho National Laboratory facility.

Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems and NuScale Power, along with Shell Global Solutions, are also assessing a process for producing hydrogen using small modular nuclear reactors.

The Colorado and Idaho operations were connected in real time using the Department of Energy’s Energy Sciences Network that uses fiber optic cable to provide high-speed, low-latency, and low-jitter data connections. The researchers said the connection created a “Super Lab” that allowed them to study energy systems currently not in existence to demonstrate that renewable and nuclear energy, combined within a hybrid system, can complement each other to support the grid.

During the demonstration, the researchers simulated a sudden loss in solar power from a passing cloud, and the nuclear reactor stepped in to support grid demand. 

The tested scenarios provide developers a baseline and high-quality operational data for how hybrid renewables-nuclear designs might operate together for a reliable power grid, the researchers said.

For the next SuperLab demonstration, scheduled for late 2023, Department of Energy researchers plan to simulate a national-scale disaster across eight national laboratories to study how a major outage from a hurricane or cyberattack would play out on a distributed energy system. The scale of the experiment would involve 10,000 devices and be much larger than previous demonstrations, they said.

Western Area Power Administration Seeks Proposals for 65 MW of Firm Capacity and Energy

April 24, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 24, 2023

The Western Area Power Administration is seeking proposals on behalf of the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration for 65 megawatts of firm capacity and energy through a request for proposals issued on April 14.

The proposed contract must begin on January 1, 2024, and go through December 31, 2024, or December 31, 2025. WAPA is seeking the proposals through the Colorado River Storage Project Management Center.

The NNSA oversees the power procurement for its facilities within the Sandia National Laboratory facilities, both co-located at Department of Defense Kirtland Air Force Base near the southern boundary of the City of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Both facilities are served through the Public Service Company of New Mexico transmission system and Balancing Authority.

Proposals in response to the RFP are due May 12.