Intensive energy requirements in Silicon Valley require coal -powered power plants again.
Harrispurg, Pennsylvania (AP)-Coal power plants, a long period of increased proposal in the United States in the United States, have become more valuable now that sudden strong demand for electricity to operate cloud computing in the field of major technology and artificial applications has begun a full enemy to find new energy sources.
President Donald Trump – who prompted us “energy dominance” in the global market and suggested thatCoalIt can help meet the increasing demand for energy – is the use of its emergency saladTomorrow the facilitiesTo preserve the old coal plants on the Internet andElectricity production.
While some facilities were alreadydelayThe retirement of coal-powered plants, which are dozens of coal-operating plants that have been closed during the past two years-or will be closed in the next two years-the goal of increasing attention fromTechnology companiesAdventure capitalists,StatesAnd others compete for electricity.
This is because they have very attractive quality: High voltage lines connected to the electricity network that you no longer use and the new power plant can be used.
This ready-made contact can enable a new generation of power plants-mystificationandnuclearAnd wind, solar energy, or even storing the battery – to help meet the demand for new energy sources more quickly.
John Jacobs, an energy policy analyst at the Washington -Resident Policy Center in Washington, said the bureaucratic nightmare on building new high -voltage power generation lines may adopt efforts to obtain permits for such interconnections for the new energy stations.
“They are very interested in the capabilities here. Everyone sees a kind of writing on the wall because of the need for the transmission infrastructure, the need for the power of the clean company, the difficulty of GPS and the value of reusing the structure sites,” said Jacobs.
High energy demand, and the death of coal factories
Likewise, coal -powered factories in the country were expected to accelerate at a time when the demand for electricity increases for the first time in decades.
The Ministry of Energy said, in a December report, that its strategy to meet this request includes the reuse of coal factories, which was unable to compete with a cheap natural gas flood while it was burdened with tougher pollution rules aimed at its relatively heavy emissions of greenhouse gases aimed at the planet.
There are federal incentives, such as tax credits and loan guarantee-which encourage the re-development of retired coal plants in new energy sources.
Todd Snitchler, president and executive director of the Electric Energy Supply Association, which represents the owners of independent power stations, said that Trump’s executive orders will mean that some coal-working plants work longer than they would have been-but they are still heading to retirement.
High demand means that power plants are needed, quickly
Time is the essence in getting online power plants.
The Data Center developers report a year in some areas to connect to the regional electricity network. It may also be difficult to secure approvals for construction rights on power generation lines, given the objections by neighbors who may not want to live near them.
Stephen Dhryanank, head of the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Committee, said he believed that high energy demand has made coal -powered plants more valuable.
This is now especially true after the crowded Atlantic power network operatorReinstall its plansDijrank said sites like retired coal plants as a shortcut to meet the demand.
“This will make these characteristics more valuable because now, as long as I am ready for the shovel, these power plants already have this contact, I can enter and turn it into anything,” said Defrank.
Gas, solar energy and more in coal power sites
In Pennsylvania, the vast majority of transfers are likely to be natural because Pennsylvania is located on top of the abundant Marcelus SHale tank.
In states all over the south, facilities replace retired or retired coal units. It includes a factory owned byTennessee Valley Authority; Duke Energy Project in North Carolina state; And the power of Georgiaplants.
High voltage lines were used in retired charcoal plants on the Atlantic Coast in New Jersey and Massachusetts to connect marine wind turbines to electricity networks.
In Alabama, a colea -working factory site, Gorgas, which was closed in 2019, will become home to a battery storage factory on a tools in Alabama Power.
At the same time, the Texas -based Vistra, in the process of installing solar panels and energy storage plants in a fleet of retired coal plants that still operate in Illinois, is partly due to thisState subsidiesHe agreed there in 2021.
Nuclear may come
Al -Nawawi also gets a fileA difficult look.
In Arizona, legislators provide legislation to facilitate three facilities there-Public service in Arizona, the Salt River project, and the Toxon Electrical Energy-Place advanced nuclear reactors on retired coal plant sites.
At the request of the Indiana ruler, Bordeaux University studied how the state can attract the new nuclear energy industry. In its November report, it was estimated that the re -coal -working site for the new nuclear power plant could reduce the project costs by 7 % and 26 %.
The Politics Center from the two parties, in a study conducted in 2023 before the start of the electricity demand, estimated that nuclear factories can reduce costs from 15 % to 35 % by building at a retired coal factory site, compared to construction in a new location.
The center said that even the construction next to the charcoal factory can reduce costs by 10 % by using transportation assets, roads and buildings while avoiding some allowed obstacles.
This interconnection was a major engine forTerrapowerWhen you chose to start construction in Wyoming at a nuclear power plant from the next generation next to the Naughton Energy Station in Pacificor.
Jobs, cities left by coal
Catherine Hove, a former assistant minister in the United States for nuclear energy, is now a associate professor at the University of Illinois Champin, the department analyzing the number of sites that may be suitable for advanced nuclear reactor plants.
Hove said that the convincing worker is the workers from the coal factories that can be trained to work in a nuclear factory. These include electricity, welding and steam turbine maintenance technicians.
In the city of Homer City, the fear of the loss of its coal-working factory-which was closed in 2023 after working for 54 years-years in the hills of the Coal Coal in the West Pennsylvania state.
“20 years have passed harsh here for our region, and perhaps longer than that, with the closure of mines, and this was the final nail, with the closure of the power plant closing,” said Rob Nemik, Homer City director. “It was like, my God, what do we do?”
This changes.
In recent weeks, the factory owners demolished smoke chimneys and refrigeration towers in the country of the city of Homer andDeclareA $ 10 billion plan for the natural data data center campus.
He will be the third largest energy generator in the country, which is sowing some optimism locally.
“Maybe we will get some families, this will help in the educational area to register them, and it will help us with our residents,” Nemik said. “We are the town of death and we hope we can get a restaurant or two to open and start prosperity again. We hope.”
This story was originally shown on Fortune.com
