Beautiful Coal
Can AI bring coal fired power back?
๐๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฎ๐น ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ?
Yesterday President Trump signed an Executive Order to reinvigorate โAmericaโs beautiful clean coal industryโ.
While the directives for a rollback of regulation and increased Federal land access were not surprising, I was intrigued by ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐๐๐ต ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ โ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ (๐๐) ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ.โ
๐ฃ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฏ๐ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฝ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐น๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ด๐ฒ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐๐บ๐ฝ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐จ๐ฆ, ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ผ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐น๐ ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ (see the image below). Retirements of coal fired facilities continue, and virtually zero new coal capacity is scheduled to be built.
The exception? ๐ฆ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ด๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ฝ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ผ ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐บ๐ฝ๐๐๐ฒ๐ (I noted this last week following headlines about the Homer City Generating Station).
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ธ? ๐๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฎ๐น ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ณ๐๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ?