At state carbon hearings, power operators offer varied future
Power executives described starkly different scenarios for their operations should federal carbon dioxide rules go into effect next year, as state hearings into pending federal carbon dioxide rules continued Tuesday.
Small municipally-owned power operations that are dependent on coal face huge costs in upgrading their operations to meet the rule. While those already shifting into wind and solar would face little impact, officials testified Tuesday.
“We’re a non-profit,” said Bob Kahn, general manager of the Texas Municipal Power Agency, which serves four cities in Texas. “We’ve done the math and it’s going to cost us $80 million a year to comply. If this goes into effect, we’d basically have to shut down.”
The federal laws designed to reduce U.S. impact on global warming are already drawing predictions of half the state’s coal-fired power plants closing. And for power companies heavily invested in that fuel the costs of complying are expected to be large.
On the flip side is CPS Energy, the utility owned by the city of San Antonio. Tuesday CPS Executive Vice President Cris Eugster said the company already had plans to get almost half its power load from wind and solar sources by 2020.
“We’re retiring two coal plants 15 years early,” he said. “If we get a couple things in place we can reduce our carbon intensity by 35 percent by 20 years.”
The Texas Public Utility Commission is predicting the rule would set off a series of coal plant closures, potentially destabilizing the state’s power grid.
The shuttered plants are expected to be replaced by natural gas powered plants. But with a four-year time table for new plants, concern over that transition is drawing concern.
Clifton Karnei, general manager of the Brazos Electric Power Co-op in Waco, urged lawmakers to implement a state plan to smooth that transition and avoid a takeover by the EPA.
“It would be better than anything we’d get from the federal government,” he said. “But we’re going to have to make some tough decisions.”