Progress Energy gives up on coal plants

http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/221241.html


Progress Energy plans to mothball 11 coal-burning power plants in the state, a move that signals the beginning of the end of the era of cheap coal that has defined the state's electricity production for decades.

The Raleigh electric utility is moving to shutter older coal-burning plants because it's becoming too expensive to modify the older plants to comply with ever-tougher environmental regulations. The aging plants, including one in Chatham County, produce 12.5 percent of the power company's electricity but lack pollution-trapping "scrubber" technology.

Progress officials anticipate a slew of new federal restrictions on air pollution that crosses state lines, on mercury emissions and on waste pits that store coal ash.

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That creates enormous challenges for North Carolina, a state in which more than half the electricity is generated from coal. An abundant domestic source of energy, coal is also a major source of global warming.

The United States has more than 200 years of available coal reserves, but in recent years dozens of power companies have scrapped plans to build coal-fired power plants because of concern about global warming, air pollution and mining practices that strip mountain tops.

Progress, which had previously vowed not to build another coal-burning power plant, is now going further and dismantling existing ones. The request must still be approved by the N.C. Utilities Commission.

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"It's good news for the environment of North Carolina and the world," said Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

The plants being closed are on four sites across the state: the W.H. Weatherspoon plant near Lumberton, the Cape Fear Plant in Moncure in Chatham County, the L.V. Sutton plant near Wilmington and the H.F. Lee plant near Goldsboro.

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Meanwhile, Charlotte-based Duke Energy is building what is now believed to be the last coal-burning power plant in the state: the 800-megawatt Cliffside facility west of Charlotte. Duke is also shutting down aging coal-burning plants, but the replacement power will come from coal at Cliffside, not from natural gas.
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good news - and this will speed up clean energy building and jobs

work at the Cape Fear plant.

...about geothermal and aqua (river and ocean turbine) power. Perhaps Progress Energy should try to make progress in those areas.