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2018-06-04 13:20:00

U.S. COAL & NUCLEAR POWER

U.S. COAL & NUCLEAR POWER

API - A diverse group of energy industry associations including energy efficiency and storage, natural gas, oil, solar and wind issued the following statement condemning the Administration's draft plan to bail out coal and nuclear plants across the country.

Todd Snitchler, American Petroleum Institute Market Development Group Director (API):

"The Administration's draft plan to provide government assistance to those coal and nuclear power plants that are struggling to be profitable under the guise of national security would be unprecedented and misguided. The natural gas and oil industry is committed to strengthening national security and is playing a leading role in reducing our decades long dependence on foreign energy. As the world's largest producer and refiner of oil and natural gas, which today is the number one source of U.S. electricity, our nation is on track to achieve the President's vision for energy dominance. However, unprecedented government intervention in the energy markets to support high cost generation will put achieving that vision in jeopardy and hurt customers by taking more money out of their pockets rather than letting people keep more of what they earn – a key priority of this administration. Cleaner and abundant US natural gas and the infrastructure that supports it is powering one in three homes and businesses today and serving as a critical partner in renewable generation. As an industry we stand ready to do our part to protect our nation's energy and national security."

Malcolm Woolf, Advanced Energy Economy Senior Vice President of Policy (AEE):

"The Administration's plan to federalize the electric power system is an exercise in crony capitalism taken solely for the benefit of a bankrupt power plant owner and its coal supplier. It would be a command-and-control mechanism that fundamentally disrupts and undermines the competitive electricity markets that have improved our electricity system's reliability, resilience, and affordability, while fostering innovation. As has been well established – by FERC, by grid operators, by industry experts – there is no emergency that would justify propping up uneconomic power plants that are superfluous in an over-supplied region. The Administration's plan to alter competitive electricity market outcomes through the use of narrow emergency authorities crafted by Congress to protect the nation from true imminent threats to electric reliability is wholly unprecedented and legally indefensible. We will fight this needless energy tax on businesses and families with every tool at our disposal."

Todd Foley, American Council on Renewable Energy Senior Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs (ACORE):

"The Administration's draft plan for potential emergency action would be unwarranted, and would actually undermine competitive markets, raising electricity costs to consumers and businesses across the country. Arbitrary market interventions deprive businesses of the certainty they need to invest in power plants of all types, harming not helping electric reliability. We strongly urge the Administration to reject this ill-conceived draft plan and adopt a policy approach that promotes market forces and competition in our nation's power system, which is the central approach to assure a reliable and affordable grid system in the future."

Amy Farrell, American Wind Energy Association Senior Vice President for Government and Public Affairs (AWEA):

"Independent energy regulators, grid operators and other experts have gone on the record to declare that orderly power plant retirements do NOT constitute an emergency for our electric grid. Infrastructure and processes are already in place to ensure that remains the case. The reported proposal would be a misapplication of emergency powers, there's certainly no credible justification to force American taxpayers to bailout uneconomic power plants."

Lisa Jacobson, Business Council for Sustainable Energy President (BCSE):

"Resilience and reliability issues are paramount to the electric sector. The portfolio of currently available clean energy technologies and services in the energy efficiency, natural gas and renewable energy sectors – working with other technologies and services – is meeting the needs of the grid affordably and reliably today and can meet the needs of an evolving electric grid into the future. The actions under consideration would impose unnecessary costs on consumers and businesses through increased electricity bills."

John Hughes, Electricity Consumers Resources Council President and CEO (ELCON):

"Any action taken by the Department of Energy today to use 202(c) and DPA to prop up uneconomic coal and nuclear plants is unnecessary, anticompetitive and would increase the price of electricity to businesses and consumers, resulting in a substantial loss of U.S. manufacturing capacity jobs."

John E. Shelk, President and CEO, Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA):

"There was no emergency when coal and nuclear interests sought federal relief and there is none today that justifies such unprecedented Executive Branch intervention in the economic life of the country. The economic consequences are profound for power suppliers and consumers. This proposed federal action is a bell that cannot be called back once it is rung. Forever more suppliers and consumers will be at the whim of the fuel preferences of whoever happens to be in office. This needlessly raises costs for consumers and merely shifts the risk of premature retirement to newer, more efficient power plants that compete with coal and nuclear."

Kelly Speakes-Backman, Energy Storage Association CEO (ESA):

"The Energy Storage Association (ESA) strongly advocates for open and fair competition for all market participants that rely on consistent and stable price formation signals. Any action that undermines market stability to support new entrants like energy storage – resources that enhance grid resilience and reduce costs to consumers – will erode opportunities to create a more reliable and resilient, efficient, sustainable and affordable grid."

Dena E. Wiggins, Natural Gas Supply Association President and CEO (NGSA):

"Propping up aging and uneconomic power plants through the Defense Production Act, the Federal Power Act or other unnecessary federal intervention is a short-sighted action that drives up customer costs and undermines well-functioning power markets. It is an inappropriate use of the federal government's emergency powers that is even more egregious when even the regional power grid authorities at PJM say there is no emergency. We need to move away from a narrow focus on resuscitating individual projects and refocus the discussion on what lies at the heart of resiliency – the ability to reliably serve power customers in the most cost-efficient manner over both the short and the long-term."

Christopher Mansour, Solar Energy Industries Association Vice President for Federal Affairs (SEIA):

"A policy to spend billions of dollars keeping uneconomic power plants afloat, while trying to put clean and affordable solar on the sidelines, is not a recipe for economic success. Energy experts across a range of industries, within the federal government and in academia have agreed that this sort of effort will create a bloated power sector deploying outmoded technologies. We urge policymakers to again block this ill-advised effort to keep plants running that most electric utilities have already decided to abandon, and for good reason."

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Earlier:

 Nuclear
2018, May, 23, 10:10:00

CLEAN NUCLEAR FUTURE

WNN - The United States, Canada, and Japan are launching the Nuclear Innovation: Clean Energy (NICE) Future Initiative. This global effort will make sure nuclear has a seat at the table during discussions about innovation and advanced clean energy systems of the future.

 Nuclear
2018, May, 4, 15:05:00

U.S. NUCLEAR SPACE

WNN - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced the successful testing of a uranium-fuelled Stirling engine for use in possible future missions to Mars. Testing of the Kilopower reactor - which could be used to provide power to missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond - began at NASA's Nevada National Security Site in November 2017 and was completed in March.

Nuclear
2018, April, 30, 10:05:00

U.S. - FRANCE NUCLEAR COOPERATION

WNN - A statement of intent to strengthen cooperation on fast neutron sodium-cooled reactors has been signed between the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). The partners have also a statement of intent to begin cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence.

 Coal
2018, April, 20, 09:10:00

U.S. COAL EXPORTS UP BY 61%

EIA - The United States exported 97.0 million short tons (MMst) of coal in 2017, a 61% (36.7 MMst) increase from the 2016 level. Exports to Asia more than doubled from 15.7 MMst in 2016 to 32.8 MMst in 2017, although Europe continues to be the largest recipient of U.S. coal exports.

 Nuclear
2018, March, 26, 07:35:00

U.S. NUCLEAR: $1.2 BLN

WNN - Both houses of the US Congress have approved an omnibus appropriations bill including USD1.2 billion for nuclear energy. The bill will see the suspension of sales by the Department of Energy (DOE) of surplus uranium to pay for decommissioning work at the former Portsmouth uranium enrichment plant.

 Nuclear
2018, March, 11, 11:25:00

U.S. NUCLEAR UP

WNN - Nuclear Energy Institute president and CEO Maria Korsnick said the bill's passage in the Senate was a "welcome and timely reminder" of the bipartisan support for innovative technologies in the US Congress. "Its provisions, once enacted into law, will go a long way to ensure the United States remains at the forefront of civilian nuclear capability," she said.

 Nuclear
2018, February, 27, 13:30:00

THE LOWEST U.S. URANIUM

EIA - U.S. uranium concentrate production totaled 2.44 million pounds in 2017, down 16% from 2016 and the lowest annual total since 2.28 million pounds of uranium concentrate was produced in 2004. Domestic concentrate production peaked at 43.7 million pounds in 1980 but has remained lower than 5 million pounds annually since 1997.

 

 Coal
2017, December, 20, 19:40:00

COAL IN STAGNATION

IEA - Coal’s share in the global energy mix is forecast to decline from 27% in 2016 to 26% in 2022 on sluggish demand growth relative to other fuels. Growth through 2022 is concentrated in India, Southeast Asia and a few other countries in Asia. Coal demand declines in Europe, Canada, the United States and China, the largest coal consumer by far, and where we forecast a structural but slow decline with some fluctuations linked to short-term market requirements.

Tags: USA, COAL, NUCLEAR,