JessicaHardcastle
Ameren has drafted an alternate approach to the EPA’s Clean Power Plan that the St. Louis-based electric utility says would achieve the same final CO2 emission reduction goals as EPA’s proposal while saving Missouri customers $4 billion in costs and avoiding grid reliability problems related to the premature closure of key coal-fired power plants.
In a white paper Ameren lays out its greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategy, which includes:
- 2020 Targets: Replace the EPA’s interim target goals beginning in 2020 with a more flexible approach that provides states greater leeway in determining the proper glide path to achieve the agency’s final GHG goals by 2030.
- Interim Reporting: The EPA should establish enhanced interim reporting requirements by the states to facilitate monitoring and to ensure progress is being made to achieve the final 2030 targets, the white paper says.
- Performance Metrics: Revise the compliance formula to provide credit under the EPA’s rate-based method for retiring, and not replacing, existing coal-fired power plants with fossil generation.
- Graduation Dates: Offer states the flexibility to extend the 2030 deadline "if a clear path to meaningful reductions is evident in a reasonable time frame."
Under the Ameren GHG strategy, by 2035 Ameren would retire more than 1,800 MW (about one-third) of its coal-fired fleet, add approximately 500 MW of renewable generation, extend the license of its 1,200 MW Callaway Nuclear Energy Center and add a 600 MW natural gas combined-cycle unit, the utility says.
Photo Credit: coal power plant via Shutterstock
