Guest “you couldn’t make this sort of schist up if you were trying” by David Middleton

H/T to Chuck Wortman…

One of America’s oldest power companies is going carbon free

By Matt Egan, CNN Business
Updated 6:48 AM ET, Thu July 25, 2019

New York (CNN Business) PSEG has relied on fossil fuels to keep the lights on for the past 116 years. Now, New Jersey’s largest and oldest power company is pledging to deliver carbon-free electricity to fight climate change.

[…]

To get there, the power company is shutting down its coal plants, betting big on offshore wind and working hard to keep its existing nuclear plant alive. PSEG said it won’t build or acquire any new fossil-fueled power plants, including those running on dirt-cheap natural gas.

[…]

Last month, PSEG announced an agreement to sell its stake in a pair of coal plants in western Pennsylvania. The company plans to shut its final coal-powered unit, located in Connecticut, within 18 months.

[…]

PSEG’s plan not to open new fossil fuels comes just after it recently expanded its footprint in that space, capitalizing on the abundance of natural gas in the United States. The company has finished three natural gas plants over the past year-and-a-half, but now it’s planning to shut down some of the less efficient gas plants.

PSEG also supplies natural gas to customers in New Jersey, and it will continue that business. The carbon-free goal is for its power business.

[…]

Darth Vader: This is CNN

Matt Egan, 2007 BS in journalism.

It must really suck to live in New Jersey ($0.17/kWh), although not nearly as bad as New England ($0.22/kWh)…

Residential customers in States that still rely on coal and/or “dirt-cheap natural gas” only pay about $0.10 to $0.12/kWh.

Last month, PSEG announced an agreement to sell its stake in a pair of coal plants in western Pennsylvania.

Darth Vader: This is CNN

Did PSEG agree to “to sell its stake in a pair of coal plants in western Pennsylvania” to Tom Steyer, so he can tear them down?

Item 2.05 Costs Associated with Exit or Disposal Activities

On June 20, 2019, PSEG Fossil LLC (“Fossil”) and PSEG Power Fuels LLC (“Power Fuels” and together with Fossil, the “Sellers”), direct wholly owned subsidiaries of PSEG Power LLC (“Power”), entered into Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with Chief Conemaugh II, LLC and Chief Keystone II, LLC (collectively, the “Buyers”) relating to the sale by the Sellers of their ownership interests in the Keystone and Conemaugh generation facilities and related assets, including the assumption by the Buyers of related liabilities. The transaction is targeted to close during the second half of 2019, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

As a result of the transaction, the Seller’s ownership interests in the Keystone and Conemaugh generation facilities and related assets will no longer be classified as held for use in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. In the second quarter of 2019, Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (“PSEG”) and Power expect to recognize a one-time pre-tax impairment charge of $375 million to $415 million as the anticipated sale price is less than the current book value.

FORM8-K

PSEG is selling them to an entity that will keep them running. The
Keystone units went into service in 1967-1968, the Conemaugh units went into service in 1970-1971 and none of them were scheduled for retirement as of the 2017 Form EIA-860 Data – Schedule 3, the most recent final survey.

The only “closing” here, is the closing of a deal with a buyer who fully understood that…

PSEG may be divesting the Keystone and Conemaugh generation facilities, but there’s no “carbon free” here.

Oh, but it gets better…

The company plans to shut its final coal-powered unit, located in Connecticut, within 18 months.

Darth Vader: This is CNN

This fracking story is over three years old… And the coal-fired power plant is being replaced by a natural gas-fired power plant!!!

Connecticut’s Last Coal-Fired Power Plant To Be Closed

By GREGORY B. HLADKY
FEB 12, 2016

Connecticut’s last coal-fired power plant, Bridgeport Harbor Station, is scheduled to be closed by 2021 and replaced by a new cleaner-burning natural gas facility, according to the plant’s owner, PSEG.

The gas-powered plant is expected to be in operation by 2019 and will be capable of producing 485 megawatts of electricity, company officials said Thursday. 

[…]

The Hartford Courant

Bridgeport Harbor Station is a 418.6 MW power plant. It’s being replaced by a 485 MW natural gas-fired power plant. That’s a net gain of 66.4 MW for fossil fuels!

How significant is 418.6 MW compared to the overall coal-fired generating capacity in the US?

Coal-fired generating capacity currently stands at around 225 GW (225,000 MW). 418.6 is 0.19% of 225,000. Dean Wormer would describe this as…

And it kept getting better…

This is priceless… They swear off fossil fuels right after…

PSEG’s plan not to open new fossil fuels comes just after it recently expanded its footprint in that space, capitalizing on the abundance of natural gas in the United States. The company has finished three natural gas plants over the past year-and-a-half, but now it’s planning to shut down some of the less efficient gas plants.

PSEG also supplies natural gas to customers in New Jersey, and it will continue that business. The carbon-free goal is for its power business.

Darth Vader: This is CNN

Matt Eagan, earns a Tommy Lee Jones implied facepalm…

Speaking of Bridgeport…

I was born, raised and educated in Connecticut and lived there until I emigrated to Texas in 1981. Any mention of the city of Bridgeport always brings back memories of a band that used to play in some of the bars I frequented during my college days in New Haven…