clean power

Shutting Down Minnesota Coal Plants

July 8, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

One of the largest utilities in the United States, Xcel Energy Inc., announced that it will close its remaining coal-fired power plants in the Upper Midwest a decade ahead of its previously-announced schedule. In addition, the company will add 3,000 megawatts of new solar capacity by 2030.

The Allen S. King plant in Oak Park Heights, Minnesota and the Sherburne County Generating Station in Becker, Minnesota are the plants in question. The transition away from coal is a difficult challenge for such small communities. The plant in Becker, for example, employs 300 people in a town of 4,500 and provides 75% of the city’s tax base. Towns like this realize that coal is inevitably going away and must find ways to move beyond their dependence upon it. The Becker plant will not completely close until 2030, but parts will now only run seasonally, and one of the 3 units will close permanently in 2023

Xcel Energy, based in Minneapolis, serves more than 3.3 million electricity customers in 8 states. Last December, the company announced that it would deliver 100% clean, carbon-free electricity by 2050 and would achieve an 80% carbon reduction from its 2005 levels by 2035. It is the first major US utility to set such a goal.

Xcel will increase its investment in energy efficiency measures, bring 1,850 megawatts of new wind capacity online in Minnesota by 2022, and keep its Monticello Nuclear Generating Station operating until 2040, a decade later than planned. The company’s stepped-up clean energy strategy is part of a new legal settlement between the company, environmental organizations, and labor groups that involves Xcel’s proposed $650 million purchase of a 760-megawatt natural gas plant.

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A Major U.S. Utility Is Closing Its Coal-Fired Power Plants a Decade Early

Photo, posted January 3, 2016, courtesy of Tony Webster via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Smog And Solar Power

January 22, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

China has been struggling with some of the worst air pollution in the world. Beijing frequently sits under a brown blanket made of exhaust gases from industry, cars and coal fires, which dump harmful particulate matter, soot, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides into the air.

The human health consequences are severe. According to the World Health Organization,air pollution contributes to about 1.6 million premature deaths in China each year. World-wide, air pollution is implicated in over 7 million deaths annually.

Faced with this air pollution crisis, China has undertaken a wide variety of measures to improve its air and curb carbon dioxide emissions alongthe way. Among other things, China has invested heavily in the deployment of solar power and has plans for ever greater expansion of solar power in the future.

A study by researchers at ETH in Zurich looked at the impact of China’s air pollution on the production of solar energy. The smog in China’s cities reduces the amount of solar radiation that reaches the ground and therefore significantly reduces the power output of solar energy systems. According to the study, solar radiation would increase by an average of 11% nationwide as a result of strict air pollution control measures. In some places, cleaning up the air would result in 26% more energy production.

China’s electric power industry is the world’s largest electricity producer, having passed the United States in 2011. Two-thirds of the electricity in China still comes from coal, which, apart from the serious climate and health consequences associated with its use, continues to make it more difficult to switch to clean solar power. Much work remains to be done.

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Fighting smog supports solar power

Photo, posted February 7, 2014, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Indirect Greenhouse Gas Emissions

February 15, 2018 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

When considering the greenhouse gas emissions associated with any energy source, it is important to look at the total life cycle emissions both from the direct use of the energy source and from the indirect emissions associated with building the system, producing and transporting fuels and other supplies and, ultimately, decommissioning the system. Taking all of this into consideration is necessary in order to have a full accounting of the carbon impact of power sources.