Region for Coal's Biggest Market Turning To Wind Power to Generate Electricity

摘要

Here's how bad U.S. coal has it these days: The region that has for years burned the most coal also happens to be the windiest. The Great Plains states that run south from Canada to Texas, tucked between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River, are increasingly turning to wind power to generate electricity. It's a shift that's eating into coal's dwindling share of America's power plant pie. In Texas, which burns more coal than any other state, wind generation has grown almost 10-fold since 2005. That's come as coal use there slid in April to the lowest in 14 years. Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and the Dakotas have all seen a similar or starker rebalancing in a region known for its broad, flat terrain. The changes are part of a larger-scale war being waged worldwide between coal, natural gas and renewables including wind. "It's a three-way cage fight," said Michael Webber, deputy director of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin.