Gas the wrong answer

Re: “CPS facing $1B in charges after storm,” Front page, Tuesday, and “CPS’ moves to clean energy could slow,” Front page, Saturday:

On Saturday, CPS Energy President and CEO Paula Goldwilliams said the utility “may have to slow its shift to clean energy — and maybe build another natural gas-fired power plant — because of the financial blow” from the recent big freeze.

On Tuesday, Gold-williams warned a “challenging” rate increase might be needed to pay for a shift to green energy.

The answer is more gas? Another fossil fuel dinosaur? We bought our last dinosaur — the coal-fired Spruce 2 plant — only 11 years ago, and it’s already an economic albatross. In 2019, an independent report by Synergy Energy Economics stated: “Both Spruce units (1 and 2) have lost money relative to the market over the past six years” and are “likely to lose money relative to the market for the next four years.” The report estimated that retiring both Spruce units by 2025 and replacing them with renewables would save $85 million per year through 2040.

The Union of Concerned Scientists said in 2019 that building a large amount of new natural gas infrastructure could lock the power sector into producing harmful emissions for decades and expose utilities to a substantial risk of being stuck with stranded assets when cleaner energy options become even more economical.

CPS already has one stranded asset and now it wants to invest in another?