How To Rescue A Dying Coal Plant? Tell Legislators You'll Install "Carbon Capture" Technology!
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The hedge fund trying to buy a New Mexico coal plant slated for closure has pitched legislators on its plan: it wants to install expensive technology to capture the plant’s carbon pollution, despite the fact that the plant is closing because it cannot compete economically with renewable energy.
The City of Farmington, which is in talks to sell the plant to Acme, asked New Mexico legislators on Saturday to amend a bill currently under debate, the Energy Transition Act, to allow Acme the time it says it needs to install the carbon capture technology. Legislators planned to consider the amendment on Monday. The bill aims to transition the state’s economy to 50 percent renewable energy by 2030, and 80 percent by 2050.
“Carbon capture and sequestration” technology, or CCS, has failed to reach commercial adoption in the United States, despite decades of support from many utilities, the coal industry, and some environmental groups. That’s because so far, no one has been able to implement CCS without making power plants much more expensive to build and operate.
Prior to the hearing, Acme had circulated slides to legislators, obtained by the Energy and Policy Institute, that detailed its plan to set up a newly rebranded company called “Enchant Energy.” Enchant Energy would retrofit the 847 MW San Juan Generating Station with CCS technology, and would also add a token 40 MW solar installation and 100 MW of battery storage. Little is known about Acme Equities, but the hedge fund appears to have no previous experience in the power sector, having otherwise been involved in buying land in oil and gas production areas, as reported by the Energy and Policy Institute earlier this week.
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https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/03/05/acme-equities-hedge-fund-carbon-capture-new-mexico-coal-plant