EPA, FERC Modeling Impact Of Rules On Coal Utility Closures, Reliability

摘要

EPA and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) are jointly modeling the potential for coal-fired power plant closures prompted by pending EPA rules, an effort that FERC's chairman says could provide vital new data to help in planning a strategy for addressing any generating capacity loss resulting from plant closures. The effort could also provide a definitive analysis on the number of fossil fuel-fired power plant closures and associated electric capacity loss that might occur as facilities weigh shuttering rather than meeting the potentially high costs of complying with EPA's rules. Industry groups and others have circulated competing reports on the threat EPA rules, especially a cooling water intake rule, pose to the electric grid's reliability by prompting the shutdown of coal- and oil-fired plants.