Minneapolis, MN had a nasty hot spell last week with no energy conservation alerts from the media. That said, the US or at least the Midwest is different from China because new electrical generation capacity means putting most old plants on the "back burner" rather than scrapping them.
Thus, the old plants can be fired up and used to generate peak electricity. This is costly and the old plants usually use natural gas. This is one reason natural gas prices don't drop much in the summer anymore.
This is good for natural gas producers but bad for the majority or Americans who use natural gas for heating and cooking.
New coal fired plants like Big Stone reduce natural gas demand and result in lower natural gas prices to residential and small business users. This is an important "talking point" appeal to the public that isn't being used.
Big Stone II was halted before actual construction started. If construction was authorized and fast-tracked it would probably take at least five years before it was operational. Right now the heavy industries that build the components probably have excess capacity. If the economy improves and we get a power plant building boom component manufacturing would face delays.
no mention of how much was coal production.
ReplyDeletein America we clean the air. china deficates in it and
then the greenies wonder why the world is getting dirtier..
don
Minneapolis, MN had a nasty hot spell last week with no energy conservation alerts from the media. That said, the US or at least the Midwest is different from China because new electrical generation capacity means putting most old plants on the "back burner" rather than scrapping them.
ReplyDeleteThus, the old plants can be fired up and used to generate peak electricity. This is costly and the old plants usually use natural gas. This is one reason natural gas prices don't drop much in the summer anymore.
This is good for natural gas producers but bad for the majority or Americans who use natural gas for heating and cooking.
New coal fired plants like Big Stone reduce natural gas demand and result in lower natural gas prices to residential and small business users. This is an important "talking point" appeal to the public that isn't being used.
It will be interesting to watch whether Big Stone II ever comes on line. I don't know if it's just sitting there or if it's being dismantled.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to natural gas, it's just a matter of time.
Big Stone II was halted before actual construction started. If construction was authorized and fast-tracked it would probably take at least five years before it was operational. Right now the heavy industries that build the components probably have excess capacity. If the economy improves and we get a power plant building boom component manufacturing would face delays.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that update.
ReplyDelete