Alternative Energy Mix in Texas
coal
"The United States is moving ahead in the development of clean coal techonology. There are vast coal reserves in our country, and when it is burned cleanly, coal can provide a resource to supply a large amount of our energy requirments."
- Virgil Goode, American politican
Like much of the United States, coal is the oldest, as well as dirtiest, source of generating electricity in Texas. Out of the 46,030 GWh generated annually, roughly 30% come from coal-powered plants. (4) To put it into perspective, our 13,450 GWh derived from coal are enough to power the state of New York for a whole year (5) or Delaware for over 16 years at present consumption levels. (6) The graph to the right shows the amount of years other states can be fully powered by if they used coal.
Even though coal is responsible for less than a third of the electricity generated in Texas, our reliance on it is most obvious in the summer months. The net summer capacity is a measure of the maximum amount of electricity that can be generated during summer’s peak period; defined from June 1st to September 30th. (7) During the summer, the state’s top ten producing plants generate 21,488MW. The majority of
The W.A. Parish Power Plant is located in Fort Bend County on the outskirts of the Greater Houston Area. In recent years, environmental groups like the Sierra Club have accused the plant of not meeting the federal standards set on harmful emissions like sulfur dioxide.(9) While this is expected from environmental groups, as recent as the summer of 2015, non-biased organizations like National Geographic listed the power plant as one of the top emitter of Mercury (Hg), another toxic substance.(10) The list of complaints against the Parish plant is endless. It is due to all these issues, NRG, the owner of W.A. Parish power plant, started research and development on carbon capture and storage (CSS) in 2012. It plans on integrating CSS methods in the Parish power plant in early 2016.(11) However, CSS is not the perfect solution. While it has the potential to decrease emissions, it won't make coal a clean energy source.
WA Parish Power Plant; Source: ngr.com
Chart generated by Ismelda Correa using data from the EIA's State Profiles
SOURCES
1.https://www.tva.com/Energy/Our-Power...Fuel.../How-a-Coal-Plant-Works
2.http://energy.about.com/od/Coal/a/Hazardous-Emissions-From-Coal-Combustion.htm
3.http://comptroller.texas.gov/comptrol/fnotes/fn13Q2/coal.php
4.http://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=TX#tabs-4
5.http://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=NY#tabs-4
6.http://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=DE#tabs-4
a.http://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=IN#tabs-4
b.http://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=WI#tabs-4
c.http://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=MA#tabs-4
d.http://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=NM#tabs-4
e.http://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=MT#tabs-4
f. http://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=RI#tabs-4
7.http://www.eia.gov/tools/glossary/index.cfm?id=net%20summer%20capacity
8.Table 2, http://www.eia.gov/electricity/state/Texas/
12. http://needtoknow.nas.edu/energy/energy-sources/emerging-technologies/advanced-coal-technology/
the energy produced, 12945 MW to be exact, is obtained from coal-powered plants.(8) Thus, it is not surprising the largest power plant in the state runs on coal and is responsible for 17% of the energy produced during the summer months. However, the W.A. Parish Power Plant is not free of the environmental issues that are associated with coal plants.
To keep up with demand of electricity new advancements have been made for increasing efficiency of generated electricity and the separation of capturing CO2 emissions. The latest advancement in burning coal to generate electricity are Pulverized coal plants (PC); these plants incorporated “ultrasupercritical” boilers to achieve higher efficiencies. Unfortunately before CO2 captured and stored about 45% of energy released is converted to generate electricity once C02 is captured and stored that percentage drops down to 30% (12). Techniques such as these show promise, but the increase in cost for this technology and competition with other sources have staggered its development.
As we move forward in addressing climate change, the amount of electricity obtained from coal must not increase. In the best-case scenario it should decrease and be replaced by natural gas. Nonetheless, a more realistic outcome is for the public to petition the state of Texas to keep the amount of electricity generated from coal constant.
Electricity is produced from coal fired power plants by burning coal in a boiler to produce steam. The steam then flows into a turbine, which spins a generator to create electricity. The steam is then cooled, condensed back into water and returned to the boiler where the process begins again (1). When coal is burned several hazardous substances are released into the air. Below is a list of such substances (2).
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Particulate matter – aerosols, smoke, fumes, dust, ash and pollen
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Sulfur oxide
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Nitrogen oxide
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Lead
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Mercury
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Vapor – phase hydrocarbons (such as methane, alkanes, alkenes, etc)
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Hydrogen chloride gas
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Hydrogen fluoride gas
Texas coal is mainly a low grade form called lignite, which is found in deposits running from South Texas to northeastern edges. Lignite is mined at the surface in huge quantities. Lignite was first mined in Texas back in 1918. The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) states that there are currently 24 lignite permitted coal mine locations. It is estimated that coal mining and coal fired power plants, as well as some manufacturing from of activated carbon from lignite, generates more than $6.2 billion each year in Texas (3).