Tag: Coal plant

Utility Says Bankruptcy Filing Won't Affect W.Va. Customers

A subsidiary of electric utility FirstEnergy is filing for bankruptcy, but Mon Power customers in West Virginia should not expect changes to their electricity service.

FirstEnergy Solutions filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy over the weekend. The move is expected to affect coal and nuclear plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The filing does not affect Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp., the parent company of Mon Power, Potomac Edison and Allegheny Energy Solutions. FirstEnergy Corp. serves about 6 million customers across Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York.

Credit Mon Power
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Mon Power is a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. and not affected by the recent bankruptcy filings.

Tricia Ingraham, a spokeswoman for the utility, said the company’s West Virginian customers should not expect changes to their power service.

“They’ll still receive the same service from their utility,” she said. “They’ll still contact the same company for questions about their bills or questions about their service, and we are continuing to invest in those businesses.”

FirstEnergy Corp. and its subsidiaries operate three coal-fired power plants in West Virignia. No changes are slated for the the 1,098-megawatt Fort Martin Plant in Maidsville and the the 1,984-megawatt Harrison Plant in Haywood. The company previously announced that it planned to shut down the 1,300-megawatt Pleasants Power Station by January of next year. Pending a buyer that is still on track to happen, Ingraham said.  

The filing comes days after FirstEnergy Solutions asked the U.S. Department of Energy for an emergency order to help keep its coal and nuclear plants running.

In a letter,  the company said the power grid faces grave threats if coal and nuclear plants are allowed to close. Critics of the request said it is an attempt by the company’s to bolster its bottom line at a time when FirstEnergy’s aging fleet of coal and nuclear plants is struggling to stay competitive in the face of low natural gas prices and the falling cost of renewable energy.

New Study Says Pace of Coal Plant Closures Insufficient to Stop Climate Change

Coal plant closures are expected to outpace new construction for the first time in the modern era by 2022, but that still might not be enough to meet international emission reduction goals intended to fend off the worst anticipated impacts of climate change.

“From a climate and health perspective, the trend toward a declining coal power fleet is encouraging, but not happening fast enough,” Ted Nace, director of CoalSwarm, said in a press release.  “Fortunately, mass production is cutting solar and wind costs much faster than expected, and both financial markets and power planners worldwide are taking notice.”

The report was issued Wednesday by CoalSwarm, and environmental groups Sierra Club and Greenpeace. It is the fourth annual assessment of how many coal plants have been proposed, are under construction and are in the process of being shuttered around the world.

The report found efforts by India and China to find alternatives to coal were chief among the reasons why coal power continues to decline. The groups said the Chinese government is moving away from greenlighting new coal plants, in large part due to air quality issues from coal plant pollution. In India, private capital firms are increasingly hesitant to finance new coal-fired facilities, they said.

In the U.S., analysts say President Donald Trump’s promotion of coal has given the industry only a modest boost. Exports of coal used to make steel have increased, but U.S. producers continue to see declines in demand for the type of coal used to make electricity.

Despite these declines in coal production, the report’s authors and independent analysts have agreed the current pace of coal’s decline is too slow to meet the goals of the Paris climate accord.

A separate report released this week by the International Energy Agency found energy-related carbon dioxide emissions grew by 1.4 percent last year to a historic high. It’s the first jump in emissions in three years.

Murray Energy Expanding Coal Prep Plant in Benwood

Murray Energy is expanding its coal preparation plant in Benwood.

Construction of a new coal processing facility is underway at the Ohio County Coal Co. prep plant.

Murray spokesman Gary Broadbent tells The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register that the $45 million project will increase the plant’s coal processing capacity by 38 percent.

The project is expected to be completed by late spring.

The prep plant employs 66 workers. Ohio County Coal’s Ohio County Mine employs 733 workers.

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