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National Mining Association Congratulates President-Elect Trump and Vice President-Elect Vance

National Mining Association (NMA) President and CEO Rich Nolan issued the following statement on the results of the 2024 election.

“Today is a time for unity and for Americans to come together behind our democracy and the right we have to cast our votes. As the foundation of the American economy, the mining industry looks forward to working with President-elect Trump, Vice President-elect Vance and the next Congress to continue to secure America’s supply chains, ensure reliable and affordable energy for all Americans, and provide the building blocks for America’s infrastructure and consumer products.

Rich Nolan
 

“Across the country 500,000 miners stand ready to do what they have always done: deliver for our country. Together with the next Trump administration and Congress, we can increase America’s competitive standing on the global stage, ensuring that made in America also means mined in America, and we can create a huge number of steady, high paying jobs while we’re at it. We look forward to the opportunities that lie ahead and believe in the strength and potential of this remarkable country.”

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US Power Generators Pump the Brakes on Coal Plant Retirements

Planned closures of coal-fired power plants in the US are slowing as forecasts show rising power demand from datacenters and manufacturing.

Utilities will retire just 3.0 GW of US coal-fired capacity in 2024, the lowest level since 2015, when utilities closed a wave of plants to comply with mercury and air toxics rules, according to an analysis of S&P Global Market Intelligence data. While 14.1 GW is scheduled for retirement next year, that is down from 16.6 GW of planned coal-fired capacity projected to come offline in 2025 when analyzed in late 2023.


But tech companies are building power-hungry datacenters to support new artificial intelligence applications. Additional demand from new datacenters will double in just a year, to 47,448 GWh between 2024 and 2025, and rise more than eightfold by 2030 to 199,982 GWh, according to a forecast from S&P Global Commodity Insights. That could be a lifeline for coal power.

"There is certainly a strong chance for many of the existing coal [plants] out there to run longer than what was expected prior to the now-explosive growth forecasts in datacenter electricity demand forecasts/electrification," CreditSights analyst Nick Moglia told Commodity Insights.

Utilities had plans to retire 34.2 GW of coal capacity between 2025 and 2027 when the data was analyzed in late 2023. That projection has since dropped by 12.6%, to plans to retire 29.9 GW of coal capacity.

Datacenters buoy coal power

Wall Street analysts that track the US electric utilities sector also have indicated that coal plant owners could ramp up usage of existing facilities to help serve rising demand.

A preliminary study in April from the US Energy Department's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory shows that datacenters could account for about 9% of US energy consumption this year. The Electric Power Research Institute, in a May 28 white paper, predicted that datacenters could consume anywhere from 4.6% to 9.1% of US electricity generation by 2030 under various growth scenarios.

To continue reading, click here to view the full article on CoalZoom.com.

CoalZoom.com - Your Foremost Source for Coal News


EVA Study on West Virginias Reliable and Coal - Fired Electricity

Below is a message from Chris Hamilton, President, West Virginia Coal Association:  

Here is a paper prepared by Energy Venture Analysis (EVA) under contract with America's Power on West Virginia's Electric Rates. The paper accentuates the state’s low, competitive retail electric rates due to its strong reliance on coal-fired generation.  According to the paper, WV's retail rates last year were almost 20% below the national average and the second lowest among the 26 states east of the Mississippi River.

To continue reading, click here to view the full article on CoalZoom.com. 

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FOP Delivers Toys to Support FOCLA Giving Hearts Program

It looks and feels like Fall, but behind the scenes Santa’s Helpers are hard at work delivering toys to the Friends of Coal Ladies Auxiliary for the Giving Hearts Christmas Celebration!   This special delivery was arranged and coordinated by Mr. Steve Walker, National FOP State Trustee, Past President of the WV FOP and Chief Deputy for Kanawha City Sheriff’s Department, Mr. Daren McNeil, WV FOP President and Chief of Police of Barboursville, WV and Mr. Dave Gentry, WV FOP State Executive Board Member and FOCLA Supporter.    

Since Santa’s sleigh was in the shop being prepped for Christmas, the City of Barboursville graciously donated a van.  Mr. Walker and Mr. McNeil drove the van from Barboursville, WV to Chester, PA and back to Mabscott, WV in a single day.  These toys will be distributed to area children through the Giving Hearts Program which provides food, clothing, and toys to over 500 families in need including military families.

WVU Institute of Technology Baseball Players (left to right), Hunter Fansler, Braydon McClung, Noah Lukes, and Braedon Pakkala, volunteered their time to unload toys. 

The amazing and talented young men from the WVU Institute of Technology Baseball Team, Hunter Fansler, Braydon McClung, Noah Lukes, and Braedon Pakkala, volunteered their time to unload the toys when they arrived.     

The FOCLA is extremely grateful to our FOP partners who have donated toys to area children for the last 10 years.  Their generous contributions will ensure a very Merry Christmas for hundreds of families in our community.

To continue reading, click here to view the full article on CoalZoom.com.

CoalZoom.com - Your Foremost Source for Coal News. 

 

Inheriting an Electricity Affordability Crisis

In March of this year, federal data revealed the rise in electricity prices was far outpacing general inflation. With electricity demand beginning to soar from electrification, and most notably the data center and AI revolution, that trend is only poised to accelerate.

According to new analysis from a leading energy consultancy, utilities are now facing “potentially overwhelming demand” that could force a 10% rise in electricity rates per year. Repeat: PER YEAR.

According to the Bain & Company report, some U.S. utilities may need to increase their annual generation by more than a quarter over the next three years in order to meet rising electricity demand, a growth rate far above anything utilities achieved between 2005 and 2023.

Data centers alone could account for 44% of U.S. electricity load growth from 2023 to 2028. The extent of the new demand in the pipeline is “enormous,” said Aaron Denman, the head of Bain’s utilities and renewables practice in the Americas and lead author of Bain’s report.

“It’s both the magnitude of what needs to get built and then ... how do we build it in an affordable way? Because it’s going to drive scarcity,” Denman said.

“Even before data centers, we were talking about bill growth in the 7% to 9% [per year] range,” Denman said. “And then you add another 1% to 2% from data centers, on top of that, it becomes really extraordinary in terms of bill and rate growth.”

Other recent analysis from the consulting group Wood Mackenzie found that just six utilities have noted 93 gigawatts (GW) of data center interconnection capacity this year, nearly four times the total capacity of 2023.

To continue reading, click here to view the full article on CoalZoom.com. 

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