Utah power plant takes Illinois basin coal
The Intermountain Power Project (IPP) in Utah further diversified its coal supply earlier this year to offset output declines from coal mines in the state.
The plant took 12,315 short tons (11,351 metric tonnes) of coal from Alliance Resource Partners' Gibson mine in Indiana in April, operating data collected by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows. It also has taken 270,824st of Powder River basin (PRB) coal from Arch Resources' Black Thunder mine in Wyoming, extending a trend started in 2023 as Utah coal supply was in earlier stages of dwindling.
April's delivery of coal from the Gibson mine was the first time since at least 2008 that IPP has taken coal from the Illinois basin. Coal mined east of the Mississippi River typically does not travel west at least partly because of logistics challenges. It takes at least two railroads to take coal from the Illinois basin to Utah, and not all power plants can do that.
According to EIA data, no other power plants in Utah and Colorado took any Indiana-sourced coal in at least ten years.
IPP declined to comment on whether it will continue to take Illinois basin coal. Alliance Resource Partners did not respond to requests for comment.
The coal received from the Gibson mine in April was part of a test burn. It is a higher heat content coal than the PRB supply and closer to what Utah producers produce, but also higher sulfur than coal from the PRB and Utah.
Prior to last year, IPP only took coal from Wyoming, Colorado and Utah.
IPP started receiving PRB coal in March 2023 as Utah coal producers struggled to meet contractual commitments. It also took coal from Colorado in 2023.
Utah coal producers still are not supplying what they had previously agreed to, according to people familiar with the situation. This has forced IPP to idle one of its two generating units during non-peak seasons and to look further afield for fuel supply.
Output from the Uinta basin dropped to a 38-year low in the second quarter partly because American Consolidated Natural Resources' Lila Canyon mine, which incurred a fire in September 2022, was closed in January. Wolverine Fuel's Skyline #3 - the largest active mine in Utah – decreased output by 71pc to 244,377st in the second quarter because of the longwall move.
The delivery from the Gibson mine in April represents a fraction of that mine's output. In the first half of this year, the mine produced 2.89mn st, up from 2.67mn st a year earlier, MSHA data show.
IPP's demand for PRB and Illinois basin coals may be short-lived. The power plant's owners expect to switch to natural gas in mid-2025, after operator Intermountain Power Agency (IPA) completes construction of an 840MW gas unit in 2025. IPP's largest customer, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, is required by the state law to stop using coal-fired generation by 2026. IPA declined to comment on fuel purchasing.
In the first five months of 2024, IPP took 888,378st of coal from Colorado and Utah coal mines, according to EIA. That is up from 766,705st IPP has taken from the states' mines during the same five months last year. Shipments of PRB coal also increased compared with January-May 2023, when they had totaled 138,030st.
Related news posts
Singapore’s SP to launch 240MW solar project in China
Singapore’s SP to launch 240MW solar project in China
Singapore, 6 September (Argus) — Singapore's state-owned utility SP plans to start up a 240MW peak (MWp) agrivoltaic project in Guangdong province's Huizhou city, which will be fully operational by the end of this year. MWp refers to the maximum power output potential a solar farm has when reaching ideal conditions. SP expects the project to generate 7.5bn kWh of green electricity over the next 25 years, reduce coal use by 920,000t and avoid 4.46mn t/yr of carbon emissions. The project's solar installation capacity is 240MW, and marks SP's largest solar investment in China, the company said on 5 September. SP has secured 1.45GW of solar projects in China to date, spanning 18 provinces and municipalities. SP in May also partnered with China environmental technology solutions provider Qingdao Daneng Environmental Protection Equipment to invest and build a 90MW aquavoltaic farm in Qingdao city. This will power a green hydrogen facility in Qingdao, likely referring to Chinese refiner Sinopec's 4,500 t/yr facility . The solar project has an investment value of over 76mn Singapore dollars ($58.5mn) and is on track to connect to the grid by the end of the year. SP expects it to produce 162mn kWh/yr of green electricity and reduce carbon emissions by 160,000 t/yr. The operational model will incorporate renewable energy generation, grid integration, demand-side management, and energy storage. SP's first investment in solar assets was in June 2023, for 78MWp of agrivoltaics assets across four agricultural sites in the Dabu county of Meizhou city in Guangdong province. The project will generate 91.3GWh/yr of clean electricity, and reduce coal usage by almost 30,000t, which amounts to cutting more than 91,000 t/yr of carbon emissions. The operational date of this project was not disclosed. SP in May entered a strategic alliance with Shanghai-based CMB Financial Leasing to obtain financing services, which is expected to reach up to 8bn yuan ($1.13bn) over the next three years, to support the firm's deployment of renewable energy solutions in China. The projects will span utility-scale solar farms, distributed solar photovoltaic, energy storage, and district cooling and heating. By Joey Chan Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Poland seeks to accelerate decarbonisation
Poland seeks to accelerate decarbonisation
Warsaw, 5 September (Argus) — The Polish climate ministry has released for consultation its draft plan to increase investment in renewable energy and accelerate the country's exit from coal. The share of coal — including lignite — in Poland's total electricity generation would fall to 22pc by 2030, from about 61pc in 2023, according to the ministry's ambitious decarbonisation scenario, due to be published for public consultation this week. In this scenario, the share of renewables would rise to 56pc by 2030 from 23pc last year, the ministry said. The decarbonisation scenario is included in the draft of Poland's national energy and climate plan (NECP), which it intends to notify to the European Commission this month. NECPs are EU member states' national planning documents defining their decarbonisation targets and allowing the commission to monitor overall EU climate policies. The scenario is more ambitious than in an earlier Polish NECP, which it shared with the commission in March. The earlier plan indicated that renewables' share in the electricity sector will rise to 50.1pc by 2030. An acceleration of decarbonisation and more ambitious investments in renewables will eventually lead to lower electricity prices and increase the competitiveness of the Polish economy, the climate ministry said. The share of coal in Poland's power mix has declined sharply this year because of a surge in solar and wind power generation. Hard coal accounted for about 41pc of total Polish electricity generation in January-July, compared with 46pc over the same period last year, according to data from grid operator PSE. The feasibility of several coal-fired power plants will decrease from 2026, when the country's current capacity payment support mechanism ends and eligibility for another payment scheme is yet to be decided. Tomasz Stepien Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Asia's coal phaseout needs emissions disclosures: IEEFA
Asia's coal phaseout needs emissions disclosures: IEEFA
Singapore, 5 September (Argus) — The phasedown of Asian coal-powered plants requires stricter emissions disclosures, which will in turn reduce investment, said speakers at an Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) conference this week. One of the biggest short-term challenges for coal-fired abatement is that the coal price has halved from about $240/t to about $130/t right now, said energy finance analyst at IEEFA, Ghee Peh, on 3 September at the IEEFA Energy Finance 2024conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The greater shift towards renewable energy means that demand for coal-fired power is falling, but coal plants are still profitable and coal prices will eventually rebound as new supply is limited. "So what we can do as a larger group is to continue to pressure the financing side," said Peh. This can be done by encouraging greater emissions disclosure, which will then influence investors' decisions, he added. "The good news is that in Asia, Singapore, Hong Kong are moving towards disclosures by next year on Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, so investors will know how much a company emits, and that will contribute to a very decisive investor response," said Peh, adding that local regulators should put the onus on companies to disclose their emissions as soon as possible. Coal-mine methane emissions Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases (GHGs) and coal mining is one of the biggest sources of methane emissions. Just over 40mn t of coal-mine methane (CMM) was released into the atmosphere in 2022, according to IEA data, representing more than 10pc of total methane emissions from human activity. The EU approved a regulation on 27 May that requires the measuring, reporting and verifying of methane emissions from coal, oil and fossil gas exploration and production, distribution and underground storage, including LNG. It also establishes equivalence of methane monitoring, reporting and verification measures from 1 January 2027, and EU importers by mid-2030 have to demonstrate that the methane intensity of the production of crude, natural gas and coal imported to the EU is below maximum methane intensity values. It is therefore important to address CMM as this affects countries in Asia, said independent global energy think tank Ember's CMM programme director Eleanor Whittle. At the moment, none of the 10 biggest exporting countries to the EU meet its standards. But CMM emissions are rarely ever reported or even properly measured, she added, and measuring CMM could even double companies' reported emissions. "We did research that found that in Australia, a shift to company-led emissions reporting — but without verification — meant that overnight, hundreds of thousands [of tonnes] of carbon dioxide equivalent in the form of methane were erased, but without any mitigation or change in coal mining," said Whittle. This shows that even without improvements in the framework methane measurement and verification frameworks, policy shifts like these can still have a profound impact on short-term warming, she said. By Prethika Nair Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Australia's Dartbrook mine to restart in ‘coming weeks’
Australia's Dartbrook mine to restart in ‘coming weeks’
Singapore, 5 September (Argus) — Australian mining firm Australian Pacific Coal (AQC) is planning to restart its Dartbrook thermal coal mine soon after multiple attempts to do so over the past five years. The underground mine produced and transported coal to the surface on 4 September, the first time since it was placed into care and maintenance in 2006, AQC said on 5 September. The Dartbrook mine is located in the Hunter valley coal mining region in New South Wales. It could potentially produce 5mn t/yr of thermal coal . AQC had installed and tested a 4km conveyor system designed to transport coal produced from the Kayuga seam to the surface via the Hunter Tunnel. The coal will then be processed at a handling and preparation plant. "Commissioning is under way and the team on the ground is working hard to bring the mine safely into commercial production in the coming weeks," said AQC managing director and chief executive Ayten Saridas. Dartbrook will initially only produce unwashed thermal coal for sale to domestic or export customers when it resumes operations, the company said. Once the coal handling and preparation plant is refurbished early next year, the mine will produce washed and graded coal with high-calorific values (CV) for export. It may also produce semi-soft or pulverised coal injection coal. Dartbrook was placed into care and maintenance by its previous owner, UK-South African mining firm Anglo American, in 2006 when high-CV NAR 6,000 kcal/kg coal was as low as $50/t fob Newcastle. AQC had hoped to restart the mine in 2019 but was delayed by opposition from local communities and a fraught approvals process. Australian high-CV coal prices have rallied recently on concerns regarding natural gas supplies arising from the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Argus last assessed the price of NAR 6,000 kcal/kg coal at $143.92/t fob Newcastle on 30 August. By Jinhe Tan Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Business intelligence reports
Get concise, trustworthy and unbiased analysis of the latest trends and developments in oil and energy markets. These reports are specially created for decision makers who don’t have time to track markets day-by-day, minute-by-minute.
Learn more