U.S. Energy Regulator says coal more reliable than natural gas
The regulator charged with implementing Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s plan to keep coal plants online has something in common with the former Texas governor: Both men believe that coal and nuclear power are more reliable than other energy sources.
Coal and nuclear “are firm, non-interruptible fuel sources” that are more resilient to extreme-weather events than fuels which must be obtained off site such as natural gas, Neil Chatterjee, the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, told Bloomberg reporters during a roundtable discussion Friday in Washington.
The comments may put him at odds with the organizations that he regulates as FERC evaluates Perry’s proposal. Chatterjee said the commission will act on it by Dec. 11.
Perry’s plan aims to change the way energy is priced so that plants with 90-day supplies of on-site fuel can fully recover their costs and better compete in wholesale power markets. It asserts that such plants are more resilient during extreme weather such as during a deep winter freeze in early 2014 that’s often referred to as the polar vortex and that the retirements of those facilities is harming grid reliability.
