Can You Imagine, 35,000 Tons Of Coal Per Day, Day In, Day Out For Decades -- Wow! -- March 18, 2016

This is quite a story. I suspect 99% of Americans don't know about it, and I suspect 99.9% of Americans that have heard about it, won't/don't care. The story originates in Canada and I would wager that 75% of Canadians haven't heard about this story either or don't care; it's someone else's problem.

But it's a huge story. The Christian Science Monitor is reporting that North America's largest coal power plant, decommissioned in 2013, finds new life as a solar farm. Is "whoopee" spelled with one "e' or two?

Again, this is North America's largest coal power plant that was decommissioned in 2013, and is now being replaced as a solar farm.

Note: numbers often rounded in this blog.

The coal plant: 4,000 MW
The solar farm: 40 MW
That's not 10%, that's 1%.

So, some data points, first from wiki:

• at full capacity, 3,964 MW; let's call it 4,000
• located in Nanticoke, Ontario
• Nanticoke is located directly across Lake Erie from Erie, PA; about 60 miles west of Niagara Falls, ON, Canada
• decommissioned in 2013
• location selected partly due to proximity of US coal supplies
• Canadian $800 million; operations started in 1972 (North Dakota has wells that have been producing longer than that)
• over the years, another $900 million for upgrades (including emission controls)
• 35,000 tonnes of coal per day at height (1981) 
• one coal train: 125 x 125 = 15,000 tons; two 100-unit trains every day
• open hopper cars hold 100 - 125 tons of coal
• coal train 100 - 125 cars

Source of electricity for Ontario:

• nuclear: 65%
• hydro: 24%
• natural gas: 6%
• wind: 5%

Nuclear power in Ontario:

• 60% of Ontario's electricity comes from three nuclear plants: Pickering, Darlington, and Bruce
• the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station is the largest nuclear generation station in the world; constructed in stages between 1970 and 1987; most recent operating license extends operations to 2020 (Japan had larger nuclear generating stations but they are off-line following Fukushima)

Ontario electricity rates:

Ontario sees hydro rates jump -- again -- November 1, 2015; next hike would come two months later when end of Clean Energy Benefit pushes rates up another 10%; off-peak, 8.3 cents/kWh; mid-peak, 12.8 cents/kWh; on-peak, 17.5 cents/kWh

• electric rates have jumped 77% in five years; was 9.9 cents/kWh in 2010

• 2010: average monthly bill -- $100/month; 2015: $131/month

• The OEB said several factors are driving the price hike, including increased costs related to Ontario Power Generation's nuclear and hydro-electric power plants, as well as costs from renewable sources, such as wind and solar.

Consumer response:

Energy consultant Tom Adams said he hears two things from consumers about the ongoing upward trend in hydro rates.

"Just confusion — What the heck is going on?" Adams told CBC Queen's Park reporter Mike Crawley of the reaction.

"And anger, just people increasingly angry."

Consumers won't get any happier in the new year, either. Their bills will go up again on Jan. 1, when the 10 per cent discount known as the Clean Energy Benefit will end.

Further rate hikes are also expected in the coming years. The provincial government forecasts that hydro bills will hit more than $190 per month in a little more than six years.

"None of it shows any decreases in prices," Adams said. "It only moves in one direction."

Garry Jodoin was one of a handful of residents who went to Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli's office in Ottawa to voice displeasure with the rate hikes.

"A lot of people just can't afford it who are on fixed incomes, pension, etc. And we know this, and that's why I'm out here to complain about it because I'm a senior myself," Jodoin said.

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Back To The Christian Monitor Story

So, with that as background, the linked story at The Christian Monitor reports that where the 4,000-MW coal plant was, the province will now install a 40-MW solar farm.

These are some of the things story did not mention:

• the name of the new solar farm: the "the Canadian Feel-Good Farm"
• the number of lost jobs in US coal industry
• the number of lost jobs in US rail industry
• high energy costs kill manufacturing; over time less and less manufacturing jobs in Ontario
• the loss of huge, huge property taxes the coal plant would have paid; now taxpayers will subsidize a wind farm
• the loss of a huge number of jobs at the power plant, vs essentially no jobs once the "feel-good farm" is up and running
• the fact that, in general, the sun does not shine during the night; the minuscule "feel-good farm" will be backed up easily by existing nuclear/hydro energy, but will create havoc for the grid
• rates will continue to increase because the province plans to increase the number of "feel-good farms" over time -- from this 40-MW farm to 400 MW, eventually
• development of the solar farm will be led by SunEdison -- whose parent company appears to be in deep doo-doo; filed just 18 hours ago, Zacks is reporting that SunEdison postpones 10-K filing again; YieldCo in trouble; this delay also put SunEdison’s yieldco TerraForm Power TERP in trouble. TerraForm Power is unable to file the 10-K as it has to rely on SunEdison systems and personnel to complete its financial reporting and control processes. The high debt burden is mainly due to SunEdison’s aggressive acquisition policy which took a toll on the balance sheet with total outstanding debt nearly doubling to $11.7 billion at the end of third-quarter 2015 from $6.3 billion a year ago. On the news, SunEdison's shares fell again Tuesday (this week). Up to Tuesday's close, SunEdison's shares had fallen more than 90 percent in the past 12 months while TerraForm's had dropped about 70 percent.