New Trump carbon emissions rule makes it easier for power plants to comply, but isn't stemming decline of coal - Entrepreneur Generations

Despite the Trump administration's efforts to help the coal industry, the U.S. coal sector has continued to decline steadily since 2014. Even the administration's latest effort, a scaled-back replacement of the Obama-era Clean Power Plan that lowers compliance costs for power plants, doesn't seem to be helping much.

Though the Affordable Clean Energy rule reduces the government's authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, many power plant operators who have been planning to shut down their coal-fired plants over the next several years say the new rule hasn't changed their minds. In fact, "just days after the ACE rule was finalized, the Tennessee Valley Authority released an integrated resource plan that recommends further retirements of coal-fired power plants such as its 1,017-MW Paradise coal-fired plant, despite the president specifically advocating for keeping the TVA's plants open," Taylor Kuykendall, Darren Sweeney, and Ashleigh Cotting report for S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Though the new rule may slow the decline in coal-fired power generation, it won't stem the surge in energy production from natural gas and renewable energy, according to financial site Fitch Ratings.

"While the economics of natural gas and renewable energy compared to coal are driving much of the shift, Duke Energy Corp. spells out that part of the issue is growing public concern about climate change," S&P Global reports. 

"Carbon regulation is more a matter of if, than when, and warrants consideration in the plan," Duke Energy Indiana wrote in a July report on its plans. "Given the magnitude of the change that would be driven by substantive carbon regulation, a measured transition towards a less carbon-intensive future is prudent."

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2lNuQk7 New Trump carbon emissions rule makes it easier for power plants to comply, but isn't stemming decline of coal - Entrepreneur Generations

Posted by Entrepreneur Generations

Tweet