<
https://ieefa.org/articles/us-track-close-half-its-coal-fired-generation-capacity-2026>
"April 3, 2023 (IEEFA) — The United States is quickly approaching an
electricity sector milestone: in 2026, half of the coal-fired generation
capacity will have closed since it peaked in 2011, according to a new report
from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).
This is now the earliest date for this milestone since IEEFA began closely
tracking coal-plant retirements, and it has moved up despite high prices for
gas, a major competitor to coal, and construction delays for renewables largely
caused by pandemic-induced supply disruptions,. By another measure—actual
electricity generation—the U.S. has cut coal use even faster, producing less
than 50% of coal’s 2011 power level in both 2020 and 2022.
Based on current announcements from utilities, coal capacity will fall to 159
gigawatts (GW) by the end of 2026, down from 318GW in 2011. With more than 80GW
of power plants set to stop using coal between 2023 and the end of 2030—a
figure that includes mostly closures, with a limited number of conversions from
coal to gas—total coal-fired capacity will fall to just 116GW by 2030. And
actual coal use is likely to continue falling even faster, as aging units face
higher operation and maintenance costs, and utilities increasingly favor the
responsiveness of gas generation and battery storage to complement the variable
output from solar and wind, both of which continue to be built at a rapid
clip."
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-heart-united-states-democracy-uruguay-nature-rights-ecuador/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
