Opinion: Shut down coal plants? That's lights out for us

It’s becoming clearer that the United States can follow two possible roads in the fight to achieve a livable environment.

One is to shut down the nation’s coal plants, as President Biden advocates, and allow electricity-generating facilities worth billions of dollars to sit idle. To provide replacement power, utilities must build replacement natural gas plants. But the price of natural gas has nearly tripled in the past year, while the cost of thermal coal has increased only modestly. And the price of gas is likely to keep rising.

Though renewables are desirable, politicians must stop pretending that wind and solar are easy solutions. Rapid deployment of intermittent wind and solar power without technology for energy storage on the electricity transmission system would condemn millions of Americans to a shortage of electricity, rolling blackouts, and industrial shutdowns. And this could potentially affect us here in eastern New Mexico following the recent announcement by Xcel Energy to shutter the nearby Tolk generating station by 2028.

While they cite water availability as the reason behind closing the station, Xcel is on a mission to end its use of coal by 2030. The Tolk station will continue to serve customers using synchronous condensers. What does that mean? As fossil fuel power plants are retired and replaced with intermittent wind and solar, the electrical grid becomes susceptible to instability. These systems serve several functions, including providing inertia to the grid to keep the electrical frequency and grid voltage stable.

The second road is to continue using coal as part of a diverse mix of fuels until something comes along that gives way to its replacement. True, with enough ingenuity and capital, energy storage would potentially transform wind and solar into key sources of power, supplying electricity around the clock and on days when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining.

But that will take time and resources. Until that day, wind and solar will be supplemental, requiring backup power from fossil fuels.

But what about carbon dioxide emissions? Traditional carbon capture and storage has proven to be too expensive. However, the National Institute of Standards and Technology recently announced the discovery of an inexpensive new material, aluminum formate, that is highly effective at removing CO2 from flue gases. More research is required, but the results are very promising.

In reality, wind and solar combined account for only 12% of the nation’s electricity-generating capacity. In contrast, coal and natural gas supply 61 percent and nuclear power 19 percent. It is time for our political leaders to stop posturing on energy production.

Even as wind and solar grab most of the attention, the real story of late has been the continuing importance of coal. One reason there were no serious energy shortages in the U.S. this past summer is because more than 40 coal plants targeted for closure over the next year were kept online -- and now will remain in operation for up to five years.

Producing nearly 17 gigawatts of power, these plants will help ensure reliability and an adequate supply of electricity.

With the growing electrification of our economy, it would be irresponsible not to plan for a future in which we will need more power, not less. A balanced mix of fuels will be required to keep the lights on and assembly lines humming. Shutting down coal plants before replacement energy becomes available would wreck the nation’s electricity system and the economy.

Jim Constantopoulos is a geology professor at Eastern New Mexico University. Contact him at:

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