Coal-fired power plants play key role in U.S. energy portfolio

Mary Legatski
ASME Government Relations

In a position statement released on July 5, 2005, the Energy Committee of ASME's Council on Engineering and the ASME Power Division voiced their strong support for the construction of new, high-efficiency, coal-fired power plants in the United States to meet the need for growing base-load demand, to ensure a diversity of base-load power supplies, to ease increasing reliance on natural gas to fuel power plants, and to decrease overall pollutant emissions per unit of GDP growth.

"The Need for Additional U.S. Coal-Fired Power Plants" recommends that national policy development and Congressional incentives be directed toward increasing the use of modern coal-fired power plants to increase energy efficiency, reduce pollutant emissions, and provide economic protection from energy price fluctuations. It also states, "Coal represents a desirable, viable, and economic option — as part of a balanced energy fuel mix that also includes nuclear power, natural gas, and renewable energy — for fueling our present and future national demand for electricity."

U.S. electric system power generation is derived from four sources: coal-fired (50 percent); nuclear (20 percent); oil and natural gas (21 percent); and hydroelectric and other renewables (9 percent). In the next decade, new base-load (24/7) and midrange generating capacity will be needed to replace older plants and to support domestic economic growth. Of the approximately 1,400 coal-fired power plants currently operating in the United States, almost 50 percent went into service prior to 1970.

Natural gas and oil-fired plants face the financial risk of volatile natural gas and oil prices for the foreseeable future. Economical geothermal resources are limited. The best large hydroelectric plant sites have been developed. Other renewable energy sources are relatively expensive, based on current technology, and are not generally used for base-load power generation. That leaves nuclear and coal-fired power plants as the two most economic and reliable base-load choices for the United States in the near future.

Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel on earth, constituting nearly 67 percent of the recoverable fossil fuel reserves worldwide. Coal reserves in the Unites States represent approximately 30 percent of the world's total. It is estimated that at its current recovery and usage rate, the United States has enough coal reserves to last 200 years.

The paper concludes, "The economic competitiveness of the nation requires low-cost, reliable electric power. Fuel supply security and a desire to reduce our reliance on imported fuels suggest that it would be prudent to utilize our domestic resources of coal for the foreseeable future. … Its continued use is an important part of an overall balanced fuel mix for power generation."

The position statement released by the ASME Council on Engineering's Energy Committee on "The Need for Additional U.S. Coal-Fired Power Plants" (#05-16) as well as its statement on "The Need for Additional Nuclear Power Plants in the United States" (#04-20) are available for review at www.asme.org/gric/ps/home.html, under 2005/2004.

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