Name: CPS Energy to consider closing coal plant, but withholds details
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CPS Energy to consider closing coal plant, but withholds details

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CPS Energy officials Monday said the utility will consider closing the Spruce coal plant ahead of schedule — and then opted to withhold from the public details of what such a move would cost ratepayers.CPS has long faced criticism for operating the J.K. Spruce coal plant, which emitted over of carbon dioxide in 2019 — the sixth-highest amount of emissions among more than 300 power plants in Texas, according to the Energy Information Administration.The utility, however, has resisted calls to close the plant, citing its debt of more than $1 billion still owed on the facility.Over the last decade, utilities have retired across the country as they’ve shifted to natural gas, solar and wind for electricity.On ExpressNews.com:Previously, CPS officials said that although Spruce 2, the newer of two units, was completed in 2010, the coal plant was commissioned in 2005, before U.S. fracking drove natural gas prices down and renewable energy technology had matured.Community organizers behind a failed Recall CPS petition drive have for years called on the city-owned utility to release data detailing what closing the plant earlier than planned would cost ratepayers.On Monday, CPS trustees received a lengthy document about the utility’s new resource plan, or the strategy determining which fuels mix — involving coal, gas and renewables — CPS uses to generate power. But Trustee Ed Kelley said he opposed releasing the document to the public, arguing it contained confidential information about the utility.The resource plan “appears to me to have a tremendous amount of detailed information on this company that pretty much, from what I can tell, is our playbook,” Kelley said. “I don’t think we should be sharing that level of information with our competitors or with anybody else.”Kelley said the board needs time to study the report, adding that CPS should redact the document or require reviewers to sign a nondisclosure agreement.Mayor Ron Nirenberg, also a member of the utility’s five-member board, said the information in the resource plan is public and that he opposed withholding the document.“The community has been looking forward to this,” Nirenberg said of the resource plan. “As I read it and pick it up, it’s quite clearly stamped ‘public information.’”Still, the board opted to withhold the document, which contains details about the potential financial impact of closing of the Spruce coal plant earlier than planned.While details of the utility’s plan for the coal plant were scant Monday, CPS Chief Operating Officer Cris Eugster described multiple possible outcomes. One would be replacing the two-unit coal plant with renewable electricity and battery storage.On ExpressNews.com:A breakdown of key state and local races and candidates in the May 24 primary runoff.However, the utility is more likely to retire the older Spruce 1 unit before 2030 and replace it with a blend of energy sources, such as renewables, battery storage and natural gas. The Spruce 2 unit would remain in operation.The Spruce 2, however, could be converted to a gas-fired plant. The switch would reduce the plant’s carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent. The conversion would cost the utility about $40 million, Eugster said.“We have a lot of flexibility in what we do with that plant and further reducing the emissions,” Eugster said.CPS officials said they haven’t firmly committed to closing the coal plant. Instead, they are “exploring options” and gauging public feedback, CEO Paula Gold-Williams said.The utility will hold the first of a series of virtual town halls Feb. 4 to discuss potentially closing the plant.diego.mendoza-moyers@express-news.netA breakdown of key state and local races and candidates in the May 24 primary runoff.

CPS Energy officials Monday said the utility will consider closing the Spruce coal plant ahead of schedule — and then opted to withhold from the public details of what such a move would cost ratepayers.CPS has long faced criticism for operating the J.K. Spruce coal plant, which emitted over of carbon dioxide in 2019 — the sixth-highest amount of emissions among more than 300 power plants in Texas, according to the Energy Information Administration.The utility, however, has resisted calls to close the plant, citing its debt of more than $1 billion still owed on the facility.Over the last...

CPS Energy to consider closing coal plant, but withholds details

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