Coal

Amid efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. power grid, natural gas-fired generation will replace most of the thermal-coal electric-generation capacity that’s heading toward retirement, according to a new report from Moody’s Investors Service.

Capital Power Corp. said Tuesday it is proceeding with a project to maximize flexibility to use natural gas as fuel at the Genesee Generating Station in Alberta, which primarily had burned coal.

As part of a plan to reduce carbon emissions across its Upper Midwest footprint through the use of more renewables, nuclear energy and natural gas, Xcel Energy said it will retire its last two coal-burning plants in the region a decade earlier than previously scheduled.

Natural gas-fired electricity output exceeded coal-fired generation last year for the first time in the history of the nation’s largest grid operator PJM Interconnection, according to a report released last week by its independent market monitor.

The newly appointed chief of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a message for anyone shopping for natural gas, oil or coal: Buy American.

Wyoming’s new Gov. Mark Gordon indicated in a state of the state address earlier this month that his administration would continue ongoing efforts to keep energy — oil, natural gas and coal — at the forefront of the economy.

A study by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) of the implications for the nation’s bulk power system (BPS) related to looming coal and nuclear generation retirements is “too extreme” to aid efforts to secure future grid reliability, according to some natural gas organizations.

Senate Democrats took aim at FERC nominee Bernard McNamee over his involvement in crafting a controversial Department of Energy (DOE) proposal to subsidize coal and nuclear power, but the energy sector attorney pledged to serve as an “independent arbiter” of grid resiliency and reliability issues that come before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Natural gas-fired power plants are running more frequently in the PJM Interconnection, accounting for even larger shares of electricity in the nation’s biggest wholesale market, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).