One closure of coal plant approved
Fate of two other facilities losing money yet to be decided by agency that manages Texas’ electric grid
Texas’ electric grid operator will let one major coal plant shut down , but won’t decide until mid-December if two other coal complexes scheduled to close must stay open to maintain the grid’s stability.
The state’s largest power generator, Dallas-based Vistra Energy, plans by mid-February to close three large coal plants that are losing money, before it closes on a deal to acquire Houston’s Dynegy.
The merger was announced Monday.
While the state is expected to have plenty of electricity to power its homes and businesses next year, the concern is whether closing coal plants in the future would destabilize a grid that increasingly relies on intermittent and often unpredictable wind and solar power.
Last year, ERCOT blocked the shutdown of an NRG Energy power plant out of concern the power loss would compromise the grid’s reliability
The state’s grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, said it will allow the shuttering of Vistra’s 1,800-megawatt Monticello coal plant in northeast Texas in January.
The closure will cut about 200 more jobs there. The grid operator also is allowing the partial closure of Talen Energy’s Barney Davis steam gas power plant in Corpus Christi with more than 300 megawatts of power capacity.
But it won’t decide until December whether to allow the closing of Vistra’s Big Brown and Sandow coal plants, each of which generate almost 1,200 megawatts in power capacity.
The coal plants are older and dirtier but, combined, that’s enough electricity to power some 460,000 Texas homes on a hot summer day.
If allowed, the Sandow plant near Austin is expected to close in early January and the Big Brown facility east of Waco would shutter in mid-February, taking about 650 combined jobs with them, including at their associated coal mines.
Vistra, the legacy company of Texas power giant Energy Future Holdings, which declared bankruptcy in 2014, is the parent of the retail electricity provider TXU and the merchant power company Luminant, which operates the coal plants.
Assuming the closures are approved, ERCOT still projects having enough power in the winter and spring, although the grid’s reserve margins are shrinking.
“Given these capacity reductions (from coal plant shutdowns), ERCOT still expects to have sufficient systemwide operating reserves for the winter season,” said Pete Warnken, ERCOT manager of resource adequacy.
“Our studies show this would be the case even with a much higherthan-expected peak demand.” Almost 650 megawatts of power recently came online from new wind, natural gas and solar facilities.
Another 1,400 megawatts of new power are expected online by early next year, mostly from wind and solar, ERCOT said.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry is pushing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to adjust the regulations governing wholesale power markets to try and stop closures of coal and nuclear power plants.
Texas doesn’t offer financial incentives to keep power plants online to provide reserve power in a pinch.
The Texas grid doesn’t cross-state lines, so it isn’t under FERC’s jurisdiction.
“Given these capacity reductions ( from coal plant shutdowns), ERCOT still expects to have sufficient systemwide operating reserves for the winter season.” Pete Warnken, ERCOT official