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Xcel Utility Planning to Replace 2 Coal-Fired Power Plants With Natural Gas
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Coal Fired Electric Plant
This is an example of how I think we will progress from our glutinous carbon emitting present to a non-carbon energy future. It will be a slow process of incremental improvements, instead of a sudden and immediate shift in direction.
We can’t just stop all of our fossil fuel energy development. The trillions of dollars we have invested in developing fossil fuel based energy resources is just way to large to replace overnight. Our investment in producing solar cells and wind turbines is growing at a rapid rate. But wind and solar production capacity are not sufficient at this time to produce all of the power generating equipment that we need to replace obsolete equipment and provide new capacity for a growing economy.
Xcel energy is one of the leading utilities in developing wind power energy. But it recognizes that this source will not be sufficient to meet all of its energy needs. So to provide more power to its customers, it has developed plans to build a 480 megawatt natural gas-fired plant. They will be replacing 229 megawatts from two old coal-fired plants and provide 251 megawatts of new production capacity.
To me this is a great intermediate step of moving to a carbon free energy future. We should be using our cleanest fossil fuels (like natural gas, light sweet crude oil) while phasing out our dirtiest fossil fuels (like coal). Replacing the coal plants with natural gas will cut carbon emissions about 50%. The net effect of the new plant will be about twice the power for the same carbon emissions. We also get cleaner air to breath. If we could replace all of our coal-fired plants with natural gas, we would significantly cut our carbon emissions in the sector of our economy, electric power generation, that generates the most carbon emissions. Our air would also get a lot cleaner.
Environmentalists are mixed on the idea of the new plant. I suspect that some environmentalists are opposed to anything that is not solar or wind and have a general strategy to shut down all carbon emitting development. The general reply is to ask “why don’t they consider wind energy?” Other environmentalists are favorable to the idea. They consider Xcel as “taking positive steps in addressing the problem of carbon emissions”.
A rational policy to combat global warming would be to use our most carbon efficient fossil fuels, which we need to keep our economy running. This is actually happening now by default. The risk that an electric utility might not be able to recover their investment in coal-fired power plants is drying up the financing for these plants. At this point in time, new coal-plants would probably need government guarantees that they are not going to get.
We should avoid investing in next generation fossil fuels like oil shale. This investment may not happen anyway because of the high risk that production may be limited by carbon restrictions makes it too risky to finance. The high cost of extracting this oil, both financial and environmental, makes it unlikely that any of this oil will ever be produced in large quantities.
The government could get more involved by providing incentives to develop carbon-free energy sources and providing more energy conservation incentives.
