Posted on 08/09/2021 7:09:55 AM PDT by karpov
U.S. utilities are moving to replace coal plants with renewable-energy sources, but the shift is happening more slowly at the cooperatives that serve much of rural America.
Electric cooperatives sourced 32% of their power from coal in 2019, according to industry data. By comparison, the U.S. as a whole got about 23% of its electricity from coal that year, a 42-year low, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Co-ops, which provide power to about 42 million Americans, primarily in the Midwest and West, have remained more reliant on coal than investor-owned utilities in part because they don’t have the same means or motivation to retire coal plants.
Now, a growing number of co-op members are agitating for a faster transition to wind and solar energy, which is cleaner and increasingly cheaper than coal power. That push is creating tension within the organizations, which exist to share the costs of generating and procuring electricity for less-populous areas—leading some members to break away.
“The energy transition has been lagging for cooperatives,” said Duane Highley, chief executive of Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association, which serves more than a million customers in New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska, and has seen some members depart. “But part of that is because we don’t have the same financial tools.”
Co-ops are different from their investor-owned counterparts in a number of ways. Because they are owned by customers, rather than shareholders, they can’t raise equity and instead rely mainly on debt for financing needs. They are exempt from federal income taxes and therefore can’t use renewable-energy tax credits. And many of the regions they serve rely on coal plants for jobs and tax revenue, making the prospect of closing them politically challenging.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Leave my co-op alone. It’s reliable and cheap.
Q:And where is CA getting their power?
A:Buying it from other States.
“The onslaught is coming on all fronts. While the Chinese invest in more coal-fired plants, Biden tries to shut ours down. While the Russians build natural gas pipelines, Biden opposes natural gas exploration and transportation.”
It is nonsensical and jaw dropping. The American public has been indoctrinated to believe that climate change is caused by humans and should be fought at all costs, (unless it inconveniences them). So, they buy into this garbage knowing that the renewables are inadequate, each in their own way.
The net result is to weaken America, and that is essential for the globalists.
I’m on coop..
Cheap is my request
We are witnessing the Marxist takeover of America. Patriots obey the law while the enemy within runs roughshod across the nation.
RONALD REAGAN had it right. FREEDOM CAN be lost in a generation.
28% of CA electricity comes from generation sources out of state.
Many of the coal fired plants in other states, that supplied California have been shut down and destroyed.
Can hardly wait to see Las Vegas run on solar panels. Just go ahead and tear down the Hoover dam. You get a windmill and you get a windmill and you get................. After all, we have a mandate to be 100% renewable by 2050. 50% by 2030. Voted yes twice by the nevaDUH voters. Now “law”. What could possibly go wrong? Oh, maybe like the Crescent Dunes solar plant outside Tonopah maybe? How many desert tortoise were displaced? Where’s the eco wackos? It was close to a $billion down the drain. Someone’s pals made bank on it. “Provided high paying eco friendly jobs!”
Hi guy.
“28% of CA electricity comes from generation sources out of state.”
That could be a recipe for disaster. For the governor and people of CA.
5.56mm
“therefore can’t use renewable-energy tax credits”
That explains why solar is supposedly “cheaper” than coal....
“recipe(s) for disaster” are standard procedure for CA governance.
America is being systematically broken apart.
It explains why solar is more profitable. Solar at 25 cents a Watt will produce 1.6 kWh per year per Watt (Virginia). If the panels last 30 years that's less than a penny per kWh. Very cheap, using the same financing as coal plants.
One problem is that it's probably more like a buck a Watt installed. The much bigger problem is that unlike coal, solar is unreliable. That means it is worth much less than coal power.
Our population is Groningen. Nuclear plants will make up the majority in 25 years.
Interesting that EPA Studies do no mandate LV to get rig of lights which Generation heat in an already hot location.
“U.S. utilities are moving to replace coal plants with renewable-energy sources..”
Might as well bite the bullet now and get a Generac...unless you don’t mind long periods without electricity.
What if the other 56 states decide to NOT sell red-E Killowatts to caulifourkneeuh?
Should be plenty of extra fuel around once pedo joe has all the EV on the road. You know. The EVs that get charged via magic overnight.
I believe that all of the coal fired power plants in the Four Corners area have been shut down.
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