Coal Unit at Center of Trump Bailout Bid to Shut 19 Months Early

[Rhiannon12866]

Last unit at Bruce Mansfield plant to be shuttered in November
Power plant was at center of Trump’s efforts to save coal

A Pennsylvania power plant that was at the center of President Donald Trump’s effort to revive the coal industry will be closing 19 months ahead of schedule.

FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. plans to shutter the Bruce Mansfield power plant’s Unit 3 in November because of “a lack of economic viability,” according to a statement Friday. The company had earlier said it would close the site in June 2021. Units 1 and 2 were deactivated in February.

Bruce Mansfield was the state’s biggest coal-fired power plant but struggled to compete against cheap natural gas flowing out of nearby shale formations. One of its biggest supporters was Robert E. Murray, chief executive officer of Murray Energy Corp. and a major supplier for the complex. He lobbied the Trump administration for policies that would help the facility, and in 2017 the Energy Department proposed a plan to pay coal generators more for stockpiling fuel on-site. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected the idea in 2018.

FirstEnergy Solutions filed for bankruptcy in March 2018, dragged down by its coal and nuclear power plants. It’s a unit of FirstEnergy Corp. The company said the deactivation process at Bruce Mansfield will be complete by May.

FirstEnergy Solutions had said that it would close two nuclear plants in Ohio, and the state last month approved a plan to offer financial assistance that would let the company keep them open.


Short article, no more at link: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-09/firstenergy-solutions-to-shut-coal-fired-plant-19-months-early



Vehicles drive along a road near the Bruce Mansfield coal-fired power plant in Shippingport, Pennsylvania. Photographer: Justin Merriman/Bloomberg

[progree]

1. Meanwhile in Pakistan, things are quite a bit different. Before 2016, just one coal-fired plant

Last edited Sat Aug 10, 2019, 08:56 AM - Edit history (1)

It now has nine, supplying 15% of the nation’s electricity, with another four under construction. Solar power provides about 1% of energy needs and is getting a tiny sliver of investment compared with what’s going into coal.

Especially in Asia, dozens of coal plants have come on line in recent years or are in the planning stages—with a normal lifetime of almost a half-century. In South and Southeast Asia, coal burning is expected to increase about 3.5% a year for the next two decades, according to the International Energy Agency.

Globally, the IEA predicts, coal demand won’t peak until 2040. And that may be optimistic. Forecasts such as the IEA’s often assume governments will choose the cheapest option based on optimum efficiency while factoring in environmental constraints and the falling cost of solar and wind power.

Despite the rise of renewables, the roll call of governments adding coal-fired plants includes four of the world’s five most populous nations: China, India, Indonesia, and Pakistan.

Add to Pakistan’s woes a crippling shortage of energy. Although the government has made progress in tackling the power deficit, blackouts are a way of life.

More: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pakistan-milewide-open-air-mine-000006147.html