Coal-fired generation in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) rose from year-earlier levels for a third straight month in February, driven by colder weather and higher natural gas prices.
Generators dispatched 625,828 MW/d of coal power into MISO last month, a 61pc increase from a year earlier. The average for the month also was the highest February coal generation in the grid since 2022.
Every day last month, coal generation in MISO was higher than a year earlier primarily because heating demand in the central US was below normal in February 2024. Temperatures last month generally were lower than they had been a year earlier, and were well below-average in the middle of the month, according to the National Weather Service.
Overall electricity generation in MISO jumped to 1.87mn MW, up by 15pc from February 2024.
Coal also benefited from higher natural gas prices. The day-ahead price at Chicago Citygates — a reference point for some of central MISO — averaged $4.106/mmBtu last month compared with just under $1.57/mmBtu in February 2024.
At the same time, coal prices in the region were relatively stable. Argus assessed the price for prompt-quarter Powder River basin 8,800 Btu/lb coal delivered to the St Louis region last month at an average $39.82/short ton, or $2.263/mmBtu, compared with $40.42/st, or $2.296/mmBtu, in February 2024. Prompt-quarter shipments of Illinois basin 11,500 Btu/lb 5lb SO2/mmBtu coal delivered within that region last month averaged $54.44/st, or $2.367/mmBtu, compared with $51.10/st, or $2.222/mmBtu in February 2024.
Natural gas and hydropower were the only generating sources in MISO to have lower dispatch last month than a year earlier. Natural gas-fired power in the grid fell to 569,252 MW/d from 609,679 MW/d, while the monthly average for hydropower dropped by almost 20pc to 24,453 MW/d.
Wind, solar and battery storage dispatch in MISO was higher in February than a year earlier. Those gains overtook the drop in hydropower to boost total renewable generation in the grid to 413,862 MW/d last month from 369,146 MW/d in February 2024.
Increased coal-fired generation last month as well as in the previous two months likely drew down power plant coal inventories closer to target levels. A 61pc increase in coal generation would have equaled coal consumption in MISO rising to about 11.5mn st (10.4mn metric tonnes) in February from 7.15mn st a year earlier, using US Energy Information Administration boiler fuel data for February 2024 as a basis for the calculation.
Executives with Core Natural Resources, the coal producer formed in January by the merger of Consol Energy and Arch Resources, said last month that they had seen power plants in the Midwest cycling train sets more rapidly, leading to greater coal shipments there.
