The rule requires all existing coal plants and new natural gas plants that run frequently to eliminate virtually all carbon emissions by using carbon capture technology starting in 2032.
The cumulative impact of the new EPA rule with the chaotic rush to deploy heavily subsidized intermittent solar and wind capacity to the grid Is poisoning the economics of baseload generation in the U.S. Even without the rule, existing nuclear, coal, and combined-cycle natural gas plants in some regions increasingly have to remain idle most of the time, because they can't compete with the inordinate over-abundance of solar power in the middle of the day, when solar plants often pay customers to buy electricity.
Now new natural gas plants will have to remain idle most of the time just to avoid triggering the new rules, which apply to plants that run frequently.
In 2023, a record year, America added barely 20 GW of new solar capacity and just over 5 GW of wind.
Because such sources are intermittent, the "Accredited capacity" of the new additions is closer to 10 GW. And the batteries required to stabilize solar and wind sufficiently to replace baseload power plants are lagging even further behind, with just 4 GW installed last year.
The Biden administration can't even get out of its own way on renewable energy: A new Bureau of Land Management rule will almost certainly severely constrict the development of solar power in western states.
Worst of all, the Princeton study suggests that 600,000 miles of new transmission lines would be required to connect renewable energy to the grid in a low-carbon scenario, yet building even a 750-mile transmission line in the middle of nowhere can take 15 years.
The only way to make up the looming shortfall would be through a massive expansion of new natural gas capacity.
New natural gas plants are the principal targets of the EPA rule.
The rule has already frozen investment in the sector, because Section 111 standards go into effect for new and modified plants when proposed.
With soaring demand for electricity, America is already facing energy poverty in the years ahead. The new EPA rule will make the problem far worse, creating in the years ahead many of the same problems that people keep warning will come from climate change 100 years from now.
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