By Danielle Kaeding | Wisconsin Public Radio
Coal plants and natural gas facilities would have to essentially eliminate heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming by 2040 under new carbon pollution standards proposed Thursday by President Joe Biden’s administration.
In Wisconsin, supporters say the proposal is a “game-changer,” while power providers are evaluating its effects on affordability and reliability.
The Environmental Protection Agency said the proposal would avoid releasing up to 617 million metric tons of carbon dioxide through 2042. The agency said that’s roughly the same as taking 137 million cars or roughly half the nation’s vehicles off the road. Second only to transportation, the power sector is a leading source of greenhouse gas pollution, accounting for 25 percent of all emissions.
“EPA’s proposal relies on proven, readily available technologies to limit carbon pollution and seizes the momentum already underway in the power sector to move toward a cleaner future,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement.
Those technologies involve capturing carbon emissions from power plants and then storing them deep underground. The EPA isn’t requiring plants to use carbon capture technology. It’s costly to install and hasn’t been widely used in the power sector. Although, the agency argues costs have come down and the Inflation Reduction Act boosted a tax credit for carbon capture and storage.
Plants can either choose to cut the vast majority of their emissions through carbon capture or ramp up the use of green or clean hydrogen. But some facilities that are retiring soon or run at less than 20 percent of their capacity, such as at times of peak demand, would face less restrictive requirements.
“In Wisconsin, the power sector is the largest source of greenhouse gasses, and over 75 percent of our electricity is generated by fossil fuels,” Ciaran Gallagher, energy and air manager for Clean Wisconsin, said. “There’s just a significant amount of coal being burned in Wisconsin, so these regulations are going to have a huge impact here.”
Coal accounted for 42 percent of Wisconsin’s net electricity generation in 2021, according to most recent data from the Energy Information Administration.
Gov. Tony Evers and all five of the state’s largest electric utilities have committed to going carbon-neutral by 2050. Electric providers already plan to retire around 3,300 megawatts of power at plants by 2028, according to the state’s energy assessment. Those retirements represent almost half of the state’s seven utility-scale coal plants.
If they move forward as planned, coal would decline to 21 percent of the state’s power mix by 2028. The EPA’s proposal is intended to speed up the shift away from coal even more as part of reaching Biden’s goal to eliminate carbon emissions in the power sector by 2035.
The Wisconsin Utilities Association didn’t have any comments on the proposal Thursday. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association said in a statement that it’s concerned the EPA’s standards would jeopardize reliability by forcing “critical” power plants into early retirement and make new gas plants harder to build.
Greg Nemet, public affairs professor and energy policy expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, noted there have been dramatic additions of renewable energy like wind and solar to the grid without sacrificing reliability. The nation has been on track to close half of its coal plants since 2011.
“It’s eminently feasible to have a reliable grid with less carbon emissions and less coal on that grid,” Nemet said. “I think these are arguments that 15 or 20 years ago, we would have taken seriously. And, today, there’s just too many examples of places that have moved in a big way to renewables and shutting down coal, and it’s not a problem.”
Electric providers like Dairyland Power Cooperative said they fully support investing in wind, solar, and emerging technologies. It’s exploring advanced nuclear reactors and pumped storage hydropower as part of its power mix.
Even so, Dairyland is also seeking to build a $700 million natural gas plant in Superior that would be affected under the EPA’s proposal. The agency has already said a supplemental environmental review of the plant didn’t fully analyze its effects on greenhouse gas emissions.
“Always-available resources that can ramp up in minutes to keep the lights on are also critically important,” Dairyland spokesperson Katie Thomson said in a statement. “Reliability and affordability are an increasingly important conversation during the clean energy transition as traditional plants are retired and intermittent resources take their place.”
The Edgewater coal plant in Sheboygan, the Columbia Energy Center in Columbia County and the South Oak Creek coal plant in Milwaukee County are among facilities set to be shuttered over the next three years.
Electric providers like Dairyland Power Cooperative said they fully support investing in wind, solar, and emerging technologies. It’s exploring advanced nuclear reactors and pumped storage hydropower as part of its power mix.
Even so, Dairyland is also seeking to build a $700 million natural gas plant in Superior that would be affected under the EPA’s proposal. The agency has already said a supplemental environmental review of the plant didn’t fully analyze its effects on greenhouse gas emissions.
“Always-available resources that can ramp up in minutes to keep the lights on are also critically important,” Dairyland spokesperson Katie Thomson said in a statement. “Reliability and affordability are an increasingly important conversation during the clean energy transition as traditional plants are retired and intermittent resources take their place.”
The Edgewater coal plant in Sheboygan, the Columbia Energy Center in Columbia County and the South Oak Creek coal plant in Milwaukee County are among facilities set to be shuttered over the next three years.
This story was produced by Wisconsin Public Radio and is being republished by permission. See the original story here.
