From that year through 2020, power companies retired 95 gigawatts of that power, nearly a third. Closures already announced by power generators will drop that figure to 136.5 GW by 2035, or about 47.8% of the size of the fleet at the beginning of 2015. In separate December 2020submitted cost recovery filings with regulators in West Virginia and Kentucky, two other AEP subsidiariesWheeling Power and Kentucky Powerhad also sought cost recovery for CCR and ELG investments for another West Virginia coal plant, AEPs 1,560-MW, The West Virginia Public Service Commission (WVPSC) on Aug. 4 ultimately approved cost recovery for both CCR and ELG investments at all three plantsAmos, Mountaineer, and Mitchell. Still churning electricity to West Virginia and beyond However, theres no guarantee all three plants would continue operating another 12 years or beyond that if the commission approves the request. File photo/HD Media Coal's share of electrical power generation in the state declined from nearly half in 2010 to 10% last year, with operators taking advantage of a statewide boom in natural gas drilling in the . Based on already planned and announced retirements, less than half of the U.S. coal-fired power generation capacity that existed at the start of 2015 will remain online by 2035, a new S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis shows. The organization supports technologies like carbon capture and storage, even though it may take time before that is developed and deployed at a larger scale. Closing the Mitchell plant in 2028 would save $118 million, it found. Chris Harris/The Herald-Dispatch The John Amos Power Plant in Putnam County, W.Va., Sunday, Jan. 6, 2008. State regulators are under pressure from lawmakers and coal industry supporters to prevent the plants from closing. With a nameplate rating of 2,933 MW, it is the largest utility in the AEP system. person will not be tolerated. Jaffe, of the Sierra Club, said she expects that if Kentucky and Virginia deny AEPs request, the company would come back to the commission in West Virginia asking for another surcharge. Three States Will Decide Their Fate. Last year, Morgan Stanley went further and predicted there would be no coal producing electricity by 2033. Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power have told state regulators that 2028 is the earliest date the plants would close, three years after Holladays model forecasts they could close. High 53F. that the ELG investment is reasonable and prudent, including from an economic or a resource adequacy perspective. Still, the SCC allowed Appalachian Power to provide more analyses and evidence to support the ELG investment. They also support, directly and indirectly, 6,600 jobs. If you forget it, you'll be able to recover it using your email address. Carbon Capture The. The Tennessee Valley Authority shuttered the Paradise Fossil Plant in Western Kentucky, in spite of pressure from Kentuckys then-Gov. John E. Amos Power Plantis a three-unit coal-fired power plant owned and operated by Appalachian Power, a subsidiary of American Electric Power(AEP). They generated the electricity for homes around the Ohio Valley. Scott Blake, an AEP spokesman, said the. . the commission denied about $4.2 million of expenses AEP had proposed for projects that would help the plants comply with the ELG rule. We need to keep that plant open, Del. Shutting down either plant would be hard on the economies of their local communities, not to mention the West Virginia coal industry in general. Nominate an Exceptional West Virginia Teacher! Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in. Utility giant Duke Energy Corp. is among the companies accelerating coal plant retirements to meet company and North Carolina emissions-reduction goals. Appalachian Power is proposing several options including making the pollution control modifications to all three plants or closing Mitchell by 2028 and making the modifications to John Amos. "To allow un-elected bureaucrats just to decide under the guise of good government that's not right. Rain ending early. The turn away from coal is part of AEPs long-term strategy. Workers at Appalachian Power's John E. Amos Power Plant near Winfield have found a . But one of the reports authors predicts they wont last to the end of this decade. In addition to avoiding replacement capacity costs, the plants also serve to protect customers from potentially volatile energy costs, with energy being the actual amount of electricity used from whatever source. Appalachian Power, the AEP subsidiary that owns the two plants. expenses from AEPs Virginia customers associated with federal rules regulating the disposal of coal ash at the two plants in West Virginia. Sign up for regular updates from the Ohio Valley ReSource. The problem isn't AEP, it's within our own company, AUS. The Tennessee Valley Authority, shuttered the Paradise Fossil Plant in Western Kentucky. Under the Obama administration, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized the first updates to federal effluent limitation guidelines since 1982 in November 2015, setting stringent Best Available Technology (BAT) effluent limitations and pretreatment standards for existing sources (PSES) as they apply to bottom ash transport water and flue gas desulfurization (FGD) wastewater. "The coal industry has always kept our people in the dark, and I don't look for it to change. CDL Truck Driver (Amos) - LinkedIn By, Instructions for Submitting an Event to WMKY, Contests, Giveaways, Lotteries and Raffles Policy, The West Virginia Public Service Commission, How South Africa nearly descended into civil war instead of a multi-racial democracy, Montana Rep. Zooey Zephyr sues over her removal from House floor, The guy who ate a $120,000 banana in an art museum says he was just hungry, Arkansas woman pleads not guilty to selling over 20 boxes of stolen human body parts, A decoder that uses brain scans to know what you mean mostly, Latest on Ukraine: May Day's another war day as Russia strikes Ukrainian cities. Closing the Amos plant alone in 2028 could save $1.4 billion, the Sierra Clubs analysis found. "The only question now is the glide path and how steep it is," Godby said. AEPs decision to retrofit Amos and Mountaineer for ELG compliance builds on the 2020 rule, which establishes additional options for reusing and discharging small volumes of bottom ash transport water, provides an exception for retiring units and extends the compliance deadline to a date as soon as possible beginning one year after the rule was published but no later than December 2025, the company said in late July. The EPA argues in legal documents that Congress gave it sweeping discretion under the Clean Air Act to determine the best system of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to protect human health, and officials said this month that they are poised to release strict new limits on power plant pollution as soon as the Supreme Court rules. Request WVPB Education to attend or host an event! Choose wisely! Similar projects are slated for the Mountaineer plant, including a modification of the bottom ash handling system, installation of a new ash bunker, and a retrofit of a new ultrafiltration system to the existing FGD treatment system. The John E. Amos Power Plant near Winfield, West Virginia, is being studied for early retirement, along with the Mountaineer Power Plant near New Haven, West Virginia. However, the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) on July 15 only approved CCR-compliance projects at Mitchell, moving distinctly to deny projects related to the ELG rule. For more than four decades, the plant, now Appalachian. each comment to let us know of abusive posts. According to direct testimony submitted to the SCC earlier this year by Brian D. Sherrick, managing director of Projects for AEP Service Corp., continued operation under CCR and ELG rules would cost $177.1 million at Amos and $72.9 million at Mountaineer. Both are . Be Nice. The plant employs around 300 people with . An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account. The two plants represent around two-thirds of the subsidiarys generating fleet. West Virginia Coal Plants Need Upgrades. Three States Will Decide Their The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC)on Aug. 23 rattled American Electric Powers (AEPs) plans to operate the 2.9-GW John Amos and 1.3-GW Mountaineer coal power plants through 2040 when it partly denied cost recovery for expenses that the West Virginia plants need to comply with the federal Steam Electric Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELG) rule. The EPA is proposing to bring back the 2012 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rules that were first implemented during the Obama administration. Buy Now. Close. With a nameplate rating of 2,933 MW,[1]it is the largest generating plant in the AEP system. Meanwhile, the cost of wind and solar energy has plummeted. Rain showers this evening with overcast skies overnight. Brian D. Sherrick, managing director of Projects for AEP Service Corp., continued operation under CCR and ELG rules would cost $177.1 million at Amos and $72.9 million at Mountaineer. Utility customers in West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky would pay for the cost. Last week, they testified overwhelmingly in support of the plants in a public comment hearing. DTE is currently planning on closing Monroe in 2040, but has said it will study an earlier retirement date as part of its long-term plan submitted to Michigan utility regulators. The model predicts one of Mitchells two units would close in two years, and the other in three. Carbon Capture The big game changer, however, could be a tax on carbon. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph. "Coal and solar have to coexist here.". A report published by the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that the John Amos, Mountaineer and Mitchell plants will no longer be economical to operate in five years. Last year, AEP said it would shut down or refuel 5.6 GW of its 2020 coal-fired power fleet by 2030 to comply with environmental rulesincluding recent revisions to federal CCR and ELG rulesand rebalance its portfolio in a bid to meet ambitious climate goals. We'd love to hear eyewitness In that report, the examiner recommended that the SCC should approve only recovery of CCR-related costs. As POWER has reported, however, plant economics are a major factor in AEPs spate of recently announced closures. Dane Rhys/Bloomberg/Getty Images. The John E. Amos coal-fired power plant in Poca, West Virginia. This week on Inside Appalachia, we speak with an author about grief rituals, a podcaster about the religious music of snake handling churches, and we explore best practices to prepare for retirement. Editorial: WV about to lose another coal-fired power plant If the commission denies the request to upgrade the three plants, they would close in 2028. The John E. Amos Power Plant is located near Winfield, Putnam County, West Virginia. Still, power customers will have to pay those costs whenever the plants shut down. Both states commissions will consider AEPs proposal later this month. Depending on post working, duties vary slightly. In the long run, it could mean renewables. A carbon tax puts a price on climate-changing greenhouse emissions, encouraging a shift toward cleaner energy. The ELG rule, for example, has been mired in rollbacks, prompting some uncertainty within the coal power sector about where and when to make investments. Power plant profile: John E Amos Power Plant, US - Power Technology Watch locally produced documentaries & more. The other two would close in five years. Theyre not very efficient at turning coal into power, Holladay said, and new, more efficient technologies coming down the grid and kind of eating their lunch.. Closing the Amos plant alone in 2028 could save $1.4 billion, the Sierra Club's analysis found. additional options for reusing and discharging small volumes of bottom ash transport water, provides an exception for retiring units and extends the compliance deadline to a date as soon as possible beginning one year after the rule was published but no later than December 2025, the company said in late July. We won't share it with anyone else. They're not very efficient at turning coal into power, Holladay said, and new, more efficient technologies coming down the grid and kind of eating their lunch.. It was named after a Democratic National Committeeman from West Virginia. Its three power units released 10.8 million tons of earth-warming carbon dioxide last year or the equivalent of more than 2 million cars driven for a year government records show. A carbon tax puts a price on climate-changing greenhouse emissions, encouraging a shift toward cleaner energy. The West Virginia Public Service Commission must decide in the coming weeks whether to approve an environmental compliance surcharge on electricity customers.