Energy security

Curtailing clean energy threatens innovation and national security

...Older coal power plants are operating fewer hours each year. According to the Department of Energy, coal-fired power generation declined from 2 billion kilowatt hours in 2007 to 1.2 billion in 2016, a reduction of 40 percent. In fact, in 2016 the entire U.S. fleet of coal power plants operated at a capacity factor of just 48.3 percent. This means that most coal plants are not really “baseload” power plants any more. Instead, coal plants are working part-time and are taking more days off.

Nuclear power plants, on the other hand, run around the clock until they need to be refueled. This “baseload” characteristic is making nuclear an uncomfortable fit for some large electricity markets like California. With its diverse power supply of wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, biogas and small hydro power, California is now finding that nuclear power is getting in the way of integrating more renewable resources, including the expected doubling of rooftop solar systems over the next four years.