Citing the recent "success" of the Dominion East Ohio rate auction in August, the Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel (OCC) said it has recommended that the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) implement a wholesale auction in spring 2007 to achieve lower natural gas rates for customers of Columbia Gas of Ohio. However, Columbia said it is nowhere near sold on the idea.
Dive Brief:
Despite setting goals to decarbonize their resource mix, many utility pledges amount to little more than meaningless greenwashing because power companies are not moving quickly enough to phase out fossil fuels and add clean energy, according to a new report and data set from Sierra Club.
The report grades utility decarbonization efforts based on coal plant retirement schedules, plans to add gas-fired capacity, and clean energy investment. Some utilities with carbon-neutral pledges received a failing grade using Sierra Club s methodology.
The utility sector defended its approach to the decarbonization process. The goals we have are a reflection of our current understanding of technology and economics, said Emily Fisher, senior vice president of clean energy at Edison Electric Institute.
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While coal has taken a backseat to other fossil fuels in the 2020 presidential campaign, the first debate raised a big question: Will another coal plant ever be built in the United States? Nobody s going to build another coal-fired power plant in America, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said during the first debate Sept. 29. They re going to move to renewable energy.
President Donald Trump, who has eased off mentions of a coal sector he promised to put back to work in 2016, did not directly rebuke Biden s statement at the debate. While the future is difficult to predict, there is little evidence to be found against Biden s claim and plenty to suggest power generators will continue to push coal out of their generation fleets while keeping new plans off the drafting board.