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Seattle Times: Puget Sound Energy, Washington’s largest private utility, has signed a 20-year contract to purchase wind power in Southeast Montana as part of a major shift away from coal- and gas-generated electricity. PSE will buy 350 megawatts of power, enough electricity for about 140,000 homes, from NextEra Energy Resources, which is building the Clearwater […]
IEEFA
S&P Global Market Intelligence ($): A day after Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed into law two bills seeking to extend the life of the Colstrip power plant, one of the last remaining coal-fired generating stations in the Northwest, four of the facility’s owners opposed to the legislation fired back with a lawsuit against two owners […]
David Schlissel
NorthWestern could charge customers for fictional investments at Colstrip rather than actual costs
April 15, 2021 (IEEFA)—A measure being considered in the Montana Legislature (Senate Bill 379) would grossly and unfairly enrich NorthWestern Energy with the creation of an effective tax on the company’s customers for 20 years or longer—a tax that would be based on a fictional company investment of almost $700 million. Traditionally, consumers pay for […]
IEEFA
Billings Gazette: Construction of what’s expected to be Montana’s largest wind farm will begin in 2021 just beyond the shadow the coal-fired Colstrip Power Plant. NextEra Energy Resources will plug into the grid at Colstrip substation, to target markets in the Pacific Northwest. Its Clearwater Wind project, with a 750-megawatts capacity, will be three times […]
IEEFA
E&E News: High operating and capital costs could make carbon capture, utilization and storage “not financially attractive” at a large coal plant visited by Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette this month, according to a Department of Energy analysis recently made public. According to the report, which was conducted by DOE and Leonardo Technologies Inc., capturing and […]
Press Release, Karl Cates and Seth Feaster
Statewide risk as fast-moving transition sweeps across power-generation industry
March 2, 2020 (IEEFA) — Arizona utility companies that are closing coal-fired power plants must reinvest aggressively in regional coalfield communities in order to avoid local economic disarray that could affect the state’s overall financial health, concludes a report published today by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. The report—The Case (and the […]
Seth Feaster and Clark Williams-Derry
Industry continues to struggle against increasingly competitive market forces
Some energy pundits have spoken in recent times of an impending U.S. coal renaissance. The Heritage Foundation trumpeted coal’s “Colossal Comeback” in 2017, and a Wall Street Journal reporter in 2018 wrote of its global “resilience.” Industry executives three years ago credited the newly-elected Trump administration with paving the way for fresh investments in new […]
IEEFA
Associated Press: One of the largest coal-fired power plants in the western U.S. will close two of its four units by Saturday as the Montana facility edges toward an eventual total shutdown. Colstrip Units 1 and 2 – built in the 1970s when massive strip mines were being developed across Montana and Wyoming – will […]
IEEFA
Billings Gazette: NorthWestern Energy plans to increase its share in Colstrip Unit 4 by buying out another power plant owner who recently revealed the coal-fired unit needs $20 million in repairs. Montana’s largest monopoly utility said Tuesday that it will buy out Puget Sound Energy for $1. The price is identical to what NorthWestern pitched […]
IEEFA
Billings Gazette: Colstrip Power Plant will continue receiving coal from Rosebud Mine under a six-year contract signed by all but one of the plant’s owners this wee The contract, five years in the making, was signed with just weeks left on the coal arrangement between the mine and the power plant. The terms assure the […]
IEEFA report: The case for utility-company reinvestment in Arizona’s coalfield communities
Statewide risk as fast-moving transition sweeps across power-generation industryMarch 2, 2020 (IEEFA) — Arizona utility companies that are closing coal-fired power plants must reinvest aggressively in regional coalfield communities in order to avoid local economic disarray that could affect the state’s overall financial health, concludes a report published today by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. The report—The Case (and the […]