Port Wentworth's Plant Kraft among facilities targeted as too costly to operate

Port Wentworth's Plant Kraft among facilities targeted as too costly to operate

Mary Landers

Nov. 13, 2012, 11:33 p.m. ET

Port Wentworth's Plant Kraft is among the coal-fired power plants singled out as "ripe for retirement" because they're too costly to operate, according to a report released Tuesday by the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

The plant, whose three generators came online from 1958 to 1965, has none of the four pollution control retrofits deemed essential for ongoing environmental compliance, said Ulla Reeves, regional program director at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

"Kraft doesn't have any of the retrofits right now," said Reeves. "When a plant doesn't have the retrofits it's the perfect opportunity to take it offline. They haven't invested any dollars keeping it online. With natural gas prices as they are ... this is a good time for them take it off line."

The report found the generators will likely be more expensive to operate after installing modern pollution control equipment than switching to cleaner energy alternatives, such as natural gas, renewable energy or energy efficiency. The analysis identified 22 outmoded generating units at seven Georgia plants: Crisp, Mitchell, Kraft, Harllee Branch, Bowen, Hammond and Yates; all but one of which are owned by Georgia Power.

That puts Georgia at the top of the list of states with the most coal-fired generating capacity that should be considered for closure. The report, called "Ripe for Retirement: The Case for Closing America's Costliest Coal Plants" was written by the Cambridge, Mass.-based Union for Concerned Scientists.

The economic reasons to close old coal plants comes on top of concerns about pollution from such plants, including greenhouse gas emissions, mercury and asthma-related nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides. Cleaner excess capacity is already available in both Georgia and the nation to cover what would be lost if the coal plants were shut, according to the report.

Georgia Power spokesman Mark Williams said the company files a plan every three years with the Georgia Public Service Commission detailing how it will meet customer demand for power in the most reliable and economic manner. He declined to say what would happen to Kraft.

"We file next in January of next year," he said. "We'll look to see what units need to be affected if any. Everything is in the best interest of the customers."

Tuesday's report suggests state regulators - in Georgia's case the PSC - should allow a utility to recover the cost of pollution controls from ratepayers only if the utility has demonstrated that the public interest could not be better served by retiring the coal plant and replacing it with more affordable clean energy alternatives.

Loopholes in the current process, including the only once every three years approval process, prevent this from happening in Georgia now, Reeves said.

"They are making money on old coal plants because they've completely depreciated for them," Reeves said. "When they put on pollution controls, they can get rate base to cover it. But it's not necessarily the best way."