Energy reserves available to the power grid for peak use could be cut in half, says an industry report, as power plants are retired for noncompliance with stiffer clean-air and clean-water rules.
Four federal environmental regulations to improve water and air quality could by 2018 chop by nearly half the amount of projected reserve energy available to the US power grid, says a new report.
Nationwide, hundreds of coal-, oil-, and gas-fired power plants, with a collective capacity of about 76,000 megawatts (one megawatt provides enough power for about 750 homes), could be retired if the forthcoming rules are implemented under the fastest proposed timeline, says the report by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC), an industry group charged with ensuring grid reliability. A "moderate" pace of implementation would lead to a 46,000-megawatt cut in reserve generating capacity, it says.
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