It's a good point Jim - that improvements in energy efficiency have made a significant dent in the need for electricity. There's an excellent recent Op-Ed on this in the NY Times ( see http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/13/opinion/how-we-learned-not-to-guzzle.html?...) Makes you wonder what we could do if we tried a little bit harder?
BTW, I drove by Longview this evening and it is indeed not working. However, I also drove by the 4-West mine and there were workers parked in the lot and coal coming out.
-Sandy
On Mon, Sep 16, 2013 at 8:14 PM, James Kotcon jkotcon@wvu.edu wrote:
While First Energy announced that they would be closing Hatfields Ferry and the Mitchell, PA power plants on October 1, we are awaiting a FERC review on reliability. Our concern is that, if FERC concludes that there is a need for that generation capacity to assure reliability of the grid, FERC could order the plant to remain open under what is called an RMR (Reliability Must Run) Order. In that case, First Energy would be required to keep the plant open, and install whatever additional pollution controls are needed to meet new EPA standards for Mercury and Air Toxics. This would mean several hundred million dollars of scrubbers, which would be recovered from us ratepayers. And because the plant is old and inefficient, the cost of operation per kilowatt will be even more expensive. You may recall that we are still paying for the SO2 scrubbers at Hatfields Ferry, adding several hundred million more for mercury scrubbers to a plant that is already uneconomic seems like a very bad deal.
The problem for Longview is that electricity from gas is so cheap that neither Longview nor Hatfields Ferry can compete effectively. So even if Hatfields Ferry does NOT get the RMR order and does close, that does not mean that the market gets much better for Longview.
And it is not just competition from gas. Data from the Energy Information Administration of US-DOE suggests that energy efficiency and new renewable capacity has reduced demand for fossil fuels much more quickly than was originally projected. This suggests a long-term structural shift in electricity markets, such that electricity demand keeps dropping even if the economy recovers.
Stay tuned, more to come soon.
Jim Kotcon
*From:* mvcac-bounces@osenergy.org mvcac-bounces@osenergy.org on behalf of Andrew Liebhold aliebhold@gmail.com *Sent:* Saturday, September 14, 2013 8:35 PM *To:* James Kotcon; Paula Hunt *Cc:* mvcac@cheat.org *Subject:* Re: [MVCAC] Hatfields Ferry is closing?
Hi Paula - Yes, about a month ago, First Energy announced they were closing Hatfields Ferry and another plant. Our local assemblywoman is in love with coal companies, can't handle the reality of it, and has organized a "hearing" about it:
http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2013/09/11/firstenergy-closings-t...
I'm also wondering - with Hatfields closing, do you suppose that leaves Longview with more demand for electricity, or is that not how it works?
-Sandy
On Sat, Sep 14, 2013 at 7:21 PM, Paula Hunt pjhunt@xemaps.com wrote:
Hi Sandy/Andrew (and everyone),
Did I read your post correctly: Hatfields Ferry is closing? I didn't know that ...
Thanks to you, Duane, Julieann, and other for keeping us informed
- paula
At 9/13/2013 11:20 PM, you wrote:
It will be interesting to see what restructuring the court comes up with. I wonder if it is possible that they might split the coal operation back out to separate company. Also, I'm wondering about the market for Mepco's coal. Some of their coal currently has been going to the Masontown plant which FirstEnergy is planning to close in October. I wonder if that will affect the economics of Mepco's operations...
On Fri, Sep 13, 2013 at 7:16 PM, Duane duane330@aol.com wrote:
P.S. After some 30 days of continuous operation, the Longview Power Plant came to a screeching halt around 3:30 pm today, Friday the 13th of September in 2013. DGN
*A Closer Look at the Longview Power Bankruptcy*
*By Jason Cornellhttp://www.foxrothschild.com/attorneys/l-jason-cornell.htmlon September 8, 2013 Posted in Bankruptcy Case Summarieshttp://delawarebankruptcy.foxrothschild.com/articles/bankruptcy-case-summary/
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