
Climatetech finance
Shutting down coal plants only gets you so far.
It’s progress toward cleaning up power-sector emissions, certainly. But closures, absent other action, leave behind vast industrial sites, job losses and financially bruised communities. A “just transition,” the goal for many climate activists, requires a strategy for what comes after the coal plant goes dark.
This week we saw two new approaches from a group that’s been surprisingly quiet in the post-coal planning conversation: coal plant owners themselves.
Both plans would utilize the existing infrastructure to create cleaner power. Let’s start with the one that’s definitely happening.
Talen Energy, a privately held company that owns power plants across the mid-Atlantic, is building a battery at the site of a coal generator it recently shut down near Baltimore. The first phase of the battery should be running within a year, charging and delivering power as the market demands.
The company is excited about this project as a test for its entire fleet:
“This is the first of hopefully many unit transitions from coal to lower-carbon sources and battery,” said Cole Muller, who oversees Talen’s fossil-powered fleet in the territory of regional transmission organization PJM. “It’s really about decarbonizing, …investing in the communities and continuing to provide opportunities for our people.”
I’ve reported on batteries for the last five years, but this is the first time I’ve talked to anyone building them at a coal plant. (A project in Australia aims to do this too, but a little further in the future).
Talen and battery developer Key Capture Energy told me that coal sites have distinct advantages for new battery construction:
Making this switch serves environmental justice, because it replaces a polluting facility with batteries, which emit no air pollution. And it keeps investment flowing to the surrounding community.
We still don’t know:
The site-specific benefits of existing coal sites could apply to nuclear as well.
The Gates/Buffett Wyoming plan would put a 345-megawatt demonstration reactor at the former coal plant. That’s small compared to conventional nuclear generators, but hefty for a test facility.
TerraPower wants to build plants within the decade, but it faces unenviable obstacles, such as:
Nuclear plants would entail much more investment and job opportunities in former coal power hubs. And 24/7 carbon-free power is nice to have when contemplating a grid with little or no fossil fuel consumption.
It’s way too soon for coal communities to count on this backup plan. At least when billionaires bet on exotic nuclear technologies, it’s money they can afford to lose.
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Julian Spector is senior reporter at Canary Media.
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