Prediction: Coal has fallen. Nuclear is next then Oil.

[mspohr]

Major US coal company files for bankruptcy, putting over 1,000 jobs at risk

One of the nation’s largest coal producers with mines in Eastern Kentucky filed for bankruptcy protection Monday, making it the second large coal company to do so in the past two weeks.

Revelation Energy LLC., and its affiliate Blackjewel LLC., West Virginia-based companies that employ about 1,100 people in their Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia mines, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of West Virginia, according to court documents.

The companies also employ an additional 600 workers in Wyoming mines, making them one of the nation’s largest coal producers.

Charles Raleigh, mayor of Cumberland in Harlan County, said he heard from at least two Revelation coal miners that the company shut down its mines near Cumberland.

 

[mspohr]

https://www.usnews.com/news/nationa...us-to-climate-change-threatened-by-heat-waves

Now, increasingly, more frequent heat waves and hotter average temperatures are making those waters so warm that engineers are concerned that it can't do the job. Analysts say climate change is to blame.

In little-noticed but publicly available reports to regulators, nuclear plant owners revealed that unusually hot temperatures last year forced them to reduce the plants' electricity output more than 30 times – most often in the summer, when demand from nuclear plants is at its highest. In 2012, such incidents occurred at least 60 times. At one plant in Connecticut a reactor was taken offline for nearly two weeks when temperatures in the Long Island Sound surged past 75 degrees.

The incidents, submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, reflect a sharp uptick from even a decade ago, when plants appear to have submitted only nine such reports in 2009. In 1988, 1989 and 1991, there was just one such report. The dramatic increase mirrors the rise in average U.S. and global temperatures spurred by climate change.

"I've heard many nuclear proponents say that nuclear power is part of the solution to global warming," says David Lochbaum, a retired nuclear engineer who compiled the reports based on data submitted to the NRC, and former director of the Nuclear Safety Project at the Union for Concerned Scientists. "It needs to be reversed: You need to solve global warming for nuclear plants to survive."

 

[pdx_m3s]

Bringing nuclear power offline, for now, will result in a net increase in CO2 emissions. There are not enough renewable projects with storage capabilities coming online to makeup the difference, and thus natural gas is happy to step in. This is the unfortunate reality.

 

[ReddyLeaf]

https://www.usnews.com/news/nationa...us-to-climate-change-threatened-by-heat-waves

Now, increasingly, more frequent heat waves and hotter average temperatures are making those waters so warm that engineers are concerned that it can't do the job. Analysts say climate change is to blame.

In little-noticed but publicly available reports to regulators, nuclear plant owners revealed that unusually hot temperatures last year forced them to reduce the plants' electricity output more than 30 times – most often in the summer, when demand from nuclear plants is at its highest. In 2012, such incidents occurred at least 60 times. At one plant in Connecticut a reactor was taken offline for nearly two weeks when temperatures in the Long Island Sound surged past 75 degrees.

The incidents, submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, reflect a sharp uptick from even a decade ago, when plants appear to have submitted only nine such reports in 2009. In 1988, 1989 and 1991, there was just one such report. The dramatic increase mirrors the rise in average U.S. and global temperatures spurred by climate change.

"I've heard many nuclear proponents say that nuclear power is part of the solution to global warming," says David Lochbaum, a retired nuclear engineer who compiled the reports based on data submitted to the NRC, and former director of the Nuclear Safety Project at the Union for Concerned Scientists. "It needs to be reversed: You need to solve global warming for nuclear plants to survive."

Looking at the heat map in France this week, I can’t help but wonder how many nukes will be forced off-line due to high water temps.

 

[RubberToe]

He loved coal mining...

Yahoo News: 'He loved coal mining': Tributes flow for billionaire owner of Donkin coal mine.
'He loved coal mining': Tributes flow for billionaire owner of Donkin coal mine

 

[mspohr]

It’s beginning to look like conventional wisdom was wrong. Western coal is declining too, and as it does, vulture capitalists are buying up mines, squeezing out the last bit of profits, and declaring bankruptcy, leaving behind an environmental mess and workers without jobs or pensions.
Coal left Appalachia devastated. Now it’s doing the same to Wyoming.

Isn't capitalism great!

 

[nwdiver]

It’s beginning to look like conventional wisdom was wrong. Western coal is declining too, and as it does, vulture capitalists are buying up mines, squeezing out the last bit of profits, and declaring bankruptcy, leaving behind an environmental mess and workers without jobs or pensions.
Coal left Appalachia devastated. Now it’s doing the same to Wyoming.

Isn't capitalism great!

Richard Ojeda had a pretty good rant on coal miners getting used up and tossed by industry.

 

[mspohr]

GE has a lesson for corporations

How GE invested in fossil fuels, and missed the opportunity to be a clean energy giant

. What’s more, the closure is not just a hiccup in GE’s energy plans, but is just one small piece of the American giant’s substantial stumble on clean energy in recent years.

The company has lost hundreds of billions of dollars of investor money in just two years as its stock has plummeted. And a new report claims the downturn is in large part because the company failed to pay attention to the rise of clean energy.

about the company’s commitment to clean energy. Hipple says that even in presentations on the company’s renewables business, GE still noted that gas would be “stable in the long-term” and “positioned to win in the short-term,” a view she calls a “flawed message.” The International Energy Agency’s 2018 World Energy Outlook does show demand for natural gas is “on the rise,” but also predicts renewables’ share of power markets will overtake both gas and coal globally by 2040

to wake up on climate. A survey by U.S. consulting firm Deloitte released earlier this month finds that 84% of business leaders in the United States were aware of recent reports that sounded grave alarms on climate change, and more than two-thirds of those leaders had subsequently changed their business strategies in response. Meanwhile, a recent analysis of corporate disclosures shows that more than 200 of the world’s corporate giants expect extreme weather and carbon pricing could cost their companies nearly an extra $1 trillion collectively.

 

[TheTalkingMule]

GE has a lesson for corporations

Jumping back in time(not even too far) it would seem very rational for GE to move into renewables and dominate. An investor with that foresight could be forgiven for thinking GE wouldn't possibly ignore the obvious and inevitable transition. Yet here we are.

When I hear people talk about the legacy automakers just waiting to jump into EVs when costs are lower, I think of GE. BMW isn't going to make it.

 

[mspohr]

Los Angeles is finally ditching coal — and replacing it with another polluting fuel

...
Politics played a role in LADWP’s decision-making too.

Utah’s Intermountain Power Agency owns the coal plant and the power line, known as the Southern Transmission System. If Los Angeles had simply allowed its contract to expire, LADWP officials said, the Utah agency could have blocked L.A.’s efforts to import renewable energy.

The agency agreed to let L.A. keep using the power line. But in the absence of coal, Utah wanted a gas plant, for the jobs and tax revenues it would create. LADWP estimates the new facility will employ about 125 people — a fraction of current employment at Intermountain but better than nothing.

...

Those arguments haven’t convinced clean energy advocates.

Power companies across the state are shutting down existing gas plants and canceling new ones. That trend has been driven by the improving economics of solar and wind power, a growing understanding that non-fossil energy technologies can stabilize the power grid, and the increasing urgency of the climate crisis.

“Business-as-usual decision-making will not cut it right now,” said Evan Gillespie, an activist with the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign.

Gillespie questioned whether Utah’s Intermountain Power Agency would ever block L.A.’s access to the Southern Transmission System. The wires have no economic value except to transmit electricity to California.

“It’s not like IPA can pick up that line and move it to Oregon,” Gillespie said.

What’s more, half a dozen power grid experts interviewed by the Los Angeles Times disputed LADWP’s claim that it needs a gas plant to move renewable energy over the transmission line.
...​

 

[TheTalkingMule]

CSXis down 11% on the loss of coal business and the Philly refinery shutting down. Refinery crude deliveries to just that one location were 1% of revenue.

 

[mspohr]

Fiscal collapse of coal towns all but certain, new research shows

New research shows that communities in coal country are at an increased risk of fiscal collapse. The data is the latest blow to President Donald Trump’s ongoing but faltering efforts to rescue the industry and its workers.

Local governments dependent on coal are failing to account for the financial implications of the industry’s demise, according to new findings from Columbia University and the Brookings Institution. That trend is likely to worsen should the federal government take action to curb carbon emissions, which would be likely if a Democrat were to triumph in 2020.

 

[mspohr]

US Shale: Peak Oil Finally Arrives  |  Peak Oil News and Message Boards

This year, for a variety of reasons, and some we will touch on in this article, domestic production and shale growth in particular have hit a wall. The latest report from EIA shows a decline that breaks the upward trend line.

 

[RubberToe]

Anyone care to opine on the following nuclear concept:

USNC

It looks like Canada may be building one of these in Ontario. Possible startup in 2026:

https://www.globalfirstpower.com/proposed-project-at-chalk-river-ont

I'll bet @nwdiver is on board

 

[mspohr]

Anyone care to opine on the following nuclear concept:

USNC

It looks like Canada may be building one of these in Ontario. Possible startup in 2026:

https://www.globalfirstpower.com/proposed-project-at-chalk-river-ont

I'll bet @nwdiver is on board

Anyone care to opine on the following nuclear concept:

USNC

It looks like Canada may be building one of these in Ontario. Possible startup in 2026:

https://www.globalfirstpower.com/proposed-project-at-chalk-river-ont

I'll bet @nwdiver is on board

Only 5 MW electric power. No mention of cost. Long lead time.
Meh

 

[SageBrush]

Anyone care to opine on the following nuclear concept:

USNC

It looks like Canada may be building one of these in Ontario. Possible startup in 2026:

https://www.globalfirstpower.com/proposed-project-at-chalk-river-ont

I'll bet @nwdiver is on board

I want to hear more. On the surface it sounds quite interesting

 

[RubberToe]

I saw that the new GE Haliade-X produces 12MW, and that will be commercial in 2021. Supposedly can power 16,000 households. It would be interesting to see how much battery backup or other associated solar is required to keep the 16,000 homes powered 24/7.

If the 5MW nuclear plant can only supply power for 6,667 households, then a somewhat direct cost comparison can be made. Not sure what big windmills are going for these days, but they quote pretty cheap energy when they are bid for offshore wind projects. Curious to see what one of these small nucs ends up costing. Their bigger brothers haven't fared so well in the "keeping costs under control" arena.

RT

 

[SageBrush]

I saw that the new GE Haliade-X produces 12MW, and that will be commercial in 2021. Supposedly can power 16,000 households. It would be interesting to see how much battery backup or other associated solar is required to keep the 16,000 homes powered 24/7.

If the 5MW nuclear plant can only supply power for 6,667 households, then a somewhat direct cost comparison can be made. Not sure what big windmills are going for these days, but they quote pretty cheap energy when they are bid for offshore wind projects. Curious to see what one of these small nucs ends up costing. Their bigger brothers haven't fared so well in the "keeping costs under control" arena.

RT

The blurbs that talk about using this device for hydrogen or electricity production are far fetched. If it has a future I think it will be in very hot water production for industry or for district heating, although the latter is seasonal and a buyer would want to find a use for the hot water year round.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Electric Power Monthly time!

Coal:
May: 71,988GWh (85,311GWh), 21.70% (24.90%)
YTD: 391,567GWh (440,167GWh), 24.00% (26.61%)
Rolling 12 months: 1,097,793GWh (1,180,370GWh), 26.24% (28.54%)

Nuclear:
May: 67,124GWh (67,320GWh), 20.24% (19.65%)
YTD: 331,200GWh (332,925GWh), 20.30% (20.12%)
Rolling 12 months: 805,353 GWh (818,044GWh), 19.25% (19.78%)

Coal's decline continues its decline.

Nuclear is stable (don't really want it to be unstable!), even if capacity is in very slow decline.

 

[RubberToe]

Looks like Ohio voters may get the final word on the coal and nuclear subsidies just passed by the legislature:

Ohio's nuke and coal subsidies will likely be challenged at the ballot