Washington, 21 February (Argus) — All of the new US electric generating capacity that entered service in January came from renewable sources, according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
A total of 28 projects representing 1,231MW of capacity were brought on line last month, with 99pc of that total coming from wind and solar. Six wind farms, including BP Wind's 470MW Flat Ridge II in Kansas and Duke Energy's 402MW Los Vientos project in Texas, were brought on line following a surge of wind capacity in the closing months of 2012.
Six biomass projects worth 6MW of capacity also began commercial operations last month.
Wind developers were rushing to take advantage of a federal production tax credit that was set to expire at the end of 2012 before it was extended through the end of this year as part of an eleventh hour fiscal deal. The credit pays wind projects 2.2¢/kWh during their first decade of operation.
Sixteen solar projects representing 267MW of capacity came on line last month, including Exelon's 115MW Antelope Valley Solar Ranch and NRG's 107MW California Valley Solar Ranch, both in California. Both projects are expected to add another 115MW of capacity by year's end, and all their power will be sold to investor-owned utility Pacific Gas & Electric. California is poised to experience a significant expansion in large-scale solar capacity as utilities ramp up renewables to meet the state's 33pc
Operational wind, solar, biomass, geothermal and hydroelectric capacity now standards at 181.2GW, or 15.6pc of US total capacity, FERC data show. Natural gas and coal-fired capacity held steady at 491.3GW and 336.7GW, respectively, to make up 71.4pc of the national total.
Development of coal-fired power plants has become increasingly difficult because of a host of new environmental regulations that will take effect in the next two to three years. Mercury and air toxics standards will require new facilities to meet strict emissions limits by installing control technologies like scrubbers and baghouses that add significant capital costs and make coal-fired plants less competitive against cheap natural gas.
Federal regulators are also expected to finalize New Source Performance Standards for fossil fuel-fired power plants in the next few weeks. The proposed rule would establish a 1,000lb/MWh CO2 emissions limit that could only be achieved by coal-fired units if they use carbon capture and sequestration technology. White Stallion Energy and Las Brisas have recently canceled plans to build coal and petroleum coke-fired plants in Texas in part because of the forthcoming regulations.
White Stallion is the lead petitioner in litigation brought against the air toxics standards for new units in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. That case has been suspended while the Environmental Protection Agency works on revisions to address industry concerns about the rule. The changes are expected to be finalized by the end of March. White Stallion was also involved in an unsuccessful lawsuit to derail the new CO2 limit before it is final.
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