It’s been 13 years since the final massive coal-fired energy plant was built in the US. Now, the Trump administration wants to construct one other two, however specialists say even federal help doubtless gained’t make that possible.
President Donald Trump and his administration have made no secret of their desire for coal-fired energy, arguing it is a crucial supply of agency, always-on electrical energy prized by massive customers like knowledge facilities and trade.
Most of their efforts have been directed at protecting present coal plants working longer, however final month, the administration introduced it could give greater than $100 million in federal funding to 2 proposed plants in West Virginia and Alaska.
These tasks are in the starting stage, and the federal cash will be used for early-stage feasibility research. If they’re built, it could be a momentous flip of occasions for coal-fired energy in the US. However, that’s a giant “if” as a result of the value could be astronomical to construct coal plants with proposed carbon seize — a expertise that will cease most of their plant-warming air pollution from escaping into the ambiance, storing it as an alternative.
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It would value greater than $10 billion to assemble a 1.6 gigawatt coal plant outfitted with carbon seize, like the proposed one in West Virginia, in line with an independent analysis ready for the Wyoming Energy Authority this 12 months. Similarly, it could value greater than $8 billion to construct a plant the dimension of the 1.25 gigawatt Alaska challenge.
It’s greater than double the value of constructing a pure fuel plant with carbon seize, and greater than 4 instances the value to determine new photo voltaic, in line with the Wyoming evaluation (this evaluation didn’t issue federal tax credit into constructing prices). Only erecting a new nuclear energy plant is costlier.
Those price tags are “stunningly high,” power knowledge analyst Seth Feaster mentioned. And that could cease the tasks earlier than they even begin.
“My baseline reaction is these plants will never get built,” mentioned Feaster, an analyst at world power agency the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. “The cost of that power is going to be far higher than the other forms of energy that are out there, including gas, solar and wind.”
Even present coal plants have slowly been on their manner out for years, too outdated and dear to compete with cheaper pure fuel and renewables. The new plants say they’ll make the most of carbon seize — expertise with bipartisan help. It acquired a hefty tax credit score in former President Joe Biden’s 2022 clear power legislation and Biden’s EPA nodded to it as a expertise coal plants ought to make the most of to manage their emissions. The funding for the new coal plants got here from cash that Congress initially designated for lowering and capturing carbon emissions.
But the expertise remains to be “not proven,” mentioned Phil Wagner, affiliate director of analysis and evaluation at power consulting firm McCloskey by OPIS, which tracks coal and electrical energy markets. “If it can be done, it’s going to be put on natural gas plants first. They’re already lower cost; they’re already 40% of the power grid. It’s less carbon to capture.”
“It’s still super uncertain whether either of these (new coal) plants will be built,” he added.
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An Energy Department spokesperson for the Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office mentioned the tasks had been “competitively selected,” however didn’t reply NCS’s questions on DOE’s standards to fund the tasks, or whether or not the tasks had demonstrated outdoors funding or patrons for his or her energy. Developers for the tasks didn’t return NCS’s requests for remark.
The Trump administration is “committed to stabilizing, optimizing, and growing the American coal industry while restoring coal as a cornerstone of the US energy mix,” the Energy Department spokesperson mentioned.
Energy demand is a giant a part of why coal has made an surprising comeback, regardless of its prices. US energy demand has ballooned in recent years, pushed by synthetic intelligence knowledge facilities and their want for always-on energy. The entry of information facilities to the market has additionally spurred a race to verify there’s sufficient power on the grid to deal with instances of peak demand throughout the hottest summer time days and coldest winter nights.
“Unlike renewable energy sources, coal plants can generate electricity at all times of day and in all weather conditions,” Michelle Bloodworth, president and CEO of coal-fired energy plant commerce group America’s Power, mentioned in a press release. “This makes them critical for ensuring electric reliability.”
The Trump administration has gone to nice lengths to maintain outdated coal plants from retiring, citing the want for dependable energy on the grid. The most consequential transfer the administration has made is rolling again a set of EPA guidelines that cracked down on air and water air pollution from the plants. But Trump’s Energy Department has gone additional, ordering several plants to remain open past their retirement date — even ones which might be broken and inoperable.
Their efforts have shifted the needle; the US final 12 months recorded a soar in its greenhouse fuel emissions, pushed in massive half by energy plants burning extra coal.
But regardless that coal plants are seen as dependable stalwarts of the grid, it’s not at all times the case.
Two semi-recently built coal plants, Comanche Unit 3 in Colorado and Sandy Creek in Texas, have skilled extreme mechanical points and outages which have lasted tons of of days. Sandy Creek has sat idle since a significant failure final 12 months and isn’t anticipated to be turned again on till March 2027. And Comanche 3 has skilled greater than 40 unplanned outages as a consequence of mechanical points; the most up-to-date one has lasted a couple of 12 months.
Comanche Unit 3 “is perhaps the major source of unreliability on our electric system,” mentioned Will Toor, govt director of the Colorado Energy Office. “We certainly have not seen coal units as being the most reliable units in the mix.”
In addition, the Comanche unit’s spate of unplanned outages has elevated the price of its energy, mentioned Keith Hay, managing director of coverage at the Colorado Energy Office. Hay added that the unit’s mechanical issues “literally date to its initial construction period” owing to ceaselessly malfunctioning gear and poor upkeep.
Feaster referred to as Comanche 3 and Sandy Creek “two of the biggest problematic coal plants in the country.”
Bloodworth, the CEO of the coal plant commerce group, mentioned the two outage-plagued plants are outliers, and that 18 different coal-fired models that got here on-line in the early 2010s haven’t skilled as many issues.
“We would caution against drawing a broader reliability conclusion from two units out of 20,” Bloodworth mentioned.
Wagner, the coal power analyst, mentioned the Trump administration will most likely get extra bang for its buck with guidelines and funding going towards propping up present coal plants, in comparison with new builds.
The $100 million the Trump administration has given the new tasks is “almost less than a drop in a bucket,” he mentioned.