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New Report Exhibits Coal Vegetation Earned $1 Billion for Working Whereas Wind Was Accessible, Cheaper in MISO Territory
Including to a rising discipline of analysis, the brand new report “The Consumer and Environmental Costs from Uneconomically Dispatching Coal Plants in MISO,” reveals new particulars concerning the affect of ageing, uncompetitive coal vegetation making the most of utility and market guidelines to run at a loss for prolonged intervals of time whereas crowding out cleaner, cheaper sources within the nation’s largest geographic grid area.
“Customers shouldn’t have to pay higher bills to keep dirtier, more expensive coal plants online,” mentioned Dana Ammann, coverage analyst on the Sustainable FERC Mission at NRDC. “Grid operators need to stop this inefficient practice and make these plants compete on a level playing field.”
For years, consultants have drawn the identical conclusion: costly coal routinely runs whereas shedding cash, saddling clients with extra prices within the course of. Uneconomic dispatch occurs for quite a lot of causes that each one come again to coal homeowners’ capability to provide energy to the grid roughly at their very own discretion — no matter price or guidelines.
The brand new analysis, performed by Grid Methods for NRDC and primarily based on publicly obtainable energy plant knowledge, reveals for the primary time that uneconomic coal not solely runs when it shouldn’t, however cuts the road to push cleaner, cheaper sources out of the market. The surplus prices hurt customers all through the MISO energy grid — a 15-state territory working from by the center of the nation — however are most vital in Louisiana, Indiana, and North Dakota.
“Power markets should ensure the cheapest resources are used first, but these loopholes increase profits for coal companies and utilities at the expense of energy consumers,” Ammann mentioned. “These decisions have ripple effects. When uneconomic coal plants displace wind and solar power, it sends a signal to reduce future development of those projects. Coal plant operators shouldn’t get a bailout from customers.”
Courtesy of NRDC (Pure Assets Protection Council), a world nonprofit environmental group with greater than 3 million members and on-line activists. Established in 1970, NRDC makes use of science, coverage, regulation and other people energy to confront the local weather disaster, defend public well being and safeguard nature. NRDC has places of work in New York Metropolis, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an workplace of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).
