Interesting Coal / Energy Facts
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Editor’s note: Here’s some interesting information that was shared by our friends at the American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy. They provide some interesting statistics and conversation starters if you decide to discuss energy issues with friends, family, etc.
If the coal plants being retired due to the Clean Power Plan were replaced with utility-scale solar...
Note: Pay attention to the numbers at the end of the note and consider that, by way of comparison, the state of Delaware is 1.2 million acres.
EPA projects that 38,000 MW of coal-fired electric generating capacity will retire because of the Clean Power Plan (source: EPA). EPA also projects that 41,000 MW of non-hydro renewables, such as solar, will be added because of the Clean Power Plan (source: EPA). Currently, the U.S. has a total of 94 GW of non-hydro electric generating capacity (source: EIA).
Because the sun doesn’t always shine, approximately 25% of solar electric generating capacity is counted for reliability planning, while over 90% of the capacity of coal-fired generation is counted (source: NERC). Thus, each MW of retired coal capacity would require at least 3.5 MW of replacement solar. Consequently, 38,000 MW of retired coal capacity would require 133,000 MW of replacement solar because of reliability considerations.
133,000 MW of utility-scale solar would cover 1,064,000 acres — or 800,000 football fields (NREL estimates 8 acres/MW for utility-scale photovoltaic solar).
