Brayton Point marks 150th coal plant set to retire

October 14, 2013 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

Massachusets' Brayton Point Power Station will be retired by 2017, marking 150 coal plants that have announced such plans since 2010.

Credit: Sierra Club

In 2010, analysts predicted 30,000 MW of coal would be retired over the next decade. In the three years since those predictions, coal retirements have nearly doubled to more than 58,000 MW -- more than one sixth of the entire nation's coal capacity and more than one quarter of all coal plants in the country.

Many utilities are transitioning to renewable sources of energy like wind and solar. New England is increasingly moving away from coal toward renewable energy solutions, including offshore wind. The United States currently has more than 60,000 MW of installed wind capacity and more than 10,000 MW of installed solar capacity. States including Iowa, Kansas, and South Dakota get more than 20 percent of their energy from wind power.

But not everyone celebrates a move away from coal toward renewable energy sources like wind and solar.

"Sierra Club's celebration of its 150th coal plant retirement is akin to partying at the funeral of the families and communities whose livelihoods have been devastated by these plant closures. When a coal plant shuts down, the impact is felt by employees at the plant and the mines that supply it; and spreads across the community, the state, and even the nation in the form of lost jobs and higher electricity rates for businesses and families," Laura Sheehan, senior vice president of communications for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) said in a statement. "Sierra Club seeks to permanently phase out coal from our nation's energy portfolio by 2030, even though coal powers nearly 40 percent of America's electricity, and its diminished use would result in a dangerous overreliance on natural gas, which is a 'just-in-time' source, piped in when needed, and intermittent energy sources like renewables."

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http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/brayton-point-marks-150th-coal-plant-set-retire/2013-10-14