April 3 was a significant day for Pennsylvanians who use electricity.
The Homer City coal-fired power plant in Indiana County announced it would cease operations in 90 days. The news was a crippling blow to Pennsylvania’s status in the electric generation market.
For almost six decades, the Homer City power plant has been a dependable producer of the baseload generation which assures that, whether it is day or night, hot or cold, rain or snow, when you flip the switch, your lights come on. The largest of its kind in the state, Homer City produces around 1,800 megawatts of electricity — enough to power approximately two million homes.
The plant’s demise marks yet another chapter in Pennsylvania’s ongoing energy transition — one that’s shuttered roughly two dozen coal-powered plants in the last 20 years.
PJM, the organization that manages the mid-Atlantic power grid, claims accelerated retirement of legacy generators — like coal and nuclear — means unsteady, renewable energy sources must increase sixfold to fill the gap.
At the current course, PJM is not going to have sufficient power to meet the demands of consumers. So, when demand outruns supply, there is no limit to where prices will go. Just look at Europe, which cut its thermal baseload capacity and now pays electric rates three to four times higher than the United States.
Replacing Homer City’s output would require 14,000 acres of solar panels or more than 1,250 windmills. If the sun is not shining or the wind is not blowing, this type of generation simply does not work. What will happen in the middle of the night when electricity is needed in the grid? What will happen on days when the air is calm? We can’t just call up the sun to shine so that solar panels produce electricity or summon the wind to blow so that windmills turn.
Renewable does not mean reliable.
Shortsighted environmental policies, such as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and the overregulation by agencies acting as self-proclaimed environmental enforcers, have driven fossil fuel plants out of existence and halted construction of new natural gas power plants. These limitations impacted Homer City’s ability to plan long term and handcuffed the business in making further investments.
Clearly, this is a graphic example of policies that will kill the reliability of electric power.
If Pennsylvania rushes to appease special interest environmental groups, our state and its residents will face restrictions on what sources of energy can be used.
The risk of blackouts will substantially increase because there will be fewer reliable sources to generate the needed levels of electricity.
That’s why a plan should be developed to require that before any existing thermal generation facility is closed, there must be replacement capacity available to be brought online.
We must allow the free market to do its job — not shortsighted environmental policies and regulations — or we will all pay the price.
Sen. Gene Yaw represents the 23rd District, which includes Bradford, Lycoming, Sullivan, Tioga and Union counties. He serves as chairman of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.