The coal fleet has been the backbone of the U.S. electricity supply system for decades because the fleet is critical to maintaining affordable electricity prices and a reliable and resilient electricity grid. Currently, the fleet is responsible for supplying roughly one-third of U.S. electricity needs. Also, the coal fleet provides baseload electricity on a 24/7 basis. At the beginning of 2017, the coal fleet was comprised of more than 900 electric generating units. These electric generating units are responsible for providing electricity to consumers in 48 states.
AFFORDABLE ELECTRICITY PRICES
The coal fleet helps to keep electricity prices affordable. States that rely on coal for most of their electricity pay lower electricity prices than the national average. States that rely the most on coal-fueled power plants have electricity prices 25% lower than states that rely less on coal. Affordable electricity prices are particularly important to America’s 51 million low-income and middle-income families, who spend 16% of their household budgets on energy.
A RELIABLE AND RESILIENT ELECTRICITY GRID
The U.S. needs a highly reliable electricity (or power) grid, which is depicted below.
The coal fleet plays a vital role in keeping the grid both reliable and resilient, so we can keep our lights on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. A more reliable grid is one with fewer and shorter power interruptions. A resilient grid means a grid that is better prepared to recover from adverse events, like severe weather, or even worse problems that could have extreme consequences. For example, during extremely cold weather conditions (polar vortex) in 2013/14, coal-fueled power plants played a critical role in keeping the lights on in parts of the northeastern U.S.
Since 2010, a significant portion of the coal fleet has either closed or announced plans to close, raising questions about grid reliability and resilience.
ADVANCEMENTS
There are at least 15 clean coal technologies being used today by the coal fleet. All U.S. coal-fueled power plants use one or more of these technologies. By 2018, the coal fleet will have invested more than $127 billion in technologies to reduce air pollutants. This investment has reduced emissions of major pollutants by 92% per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated. ACCCE supports the deployment of advanced high efficiency, low emissions coal-fueled power plants, such as the ultra-supercritical John W. Turk Plant, which is the first of its kind to be built in the U.S.
Source: American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity
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