Coal Power Set to Make a Comeback in 2019

Coal power has been getting a bad wrap in the U.S. for several years, thanks in large part to the increasingly enhanced desire for electricity from renewable energy sources.  As such, many coal plants have been retired in favor of natural gas, wind and solar energy projects.  But some industry pundits are now coming forward to challenge the viability of this approach.

Why We May Need Coal Power After All

According to industry expert Terry Jarrett, the rapid loss of market share that coal power has been seeing over the last few years could ultimately come back to haunt us.  His concern is that the decline of coal, coupled with growing electricity demand from electric vehicles and other technologies, could depress reliability, which from an emergency preparedness perspective obviously means more outages to deal with.

Even with all the retirements in recent years, coal still accounted for 30% of the nation’s electricity in 2017 (natural gas accounted for 32%).  Jarrett argues that continuing to replace coal power with natural gas and renewable sources may not be a good idea. 

For example, replacing coal with renewable sources would probably not be able to fully compensate for the loss of coal, as we have no control over how fast the wind blows or when the sun shines. 

Gas, he argues, is also problematic due to its reliance on vast pipeline networks with limited capacity.  Usage spikes can stretch capacity to the point where the supply cannot meet the demand.  This type of bottleneck generally does not happen with stored fuel sources like coal and oil.  And since natural gas exports are expected to triple this year, the potential for capacity bottlenecks will likely increase. 

Although coal creates more pollution than other sources, his conclusion is that coal power is here to stay, albeit at a lower percentage of total power generation compared to historical averages, because it can be stored, it is reliable, it is cheap, and the supply of coal is plentiful.