Power company CEO ready for carbon diet

Wind, nuclear paths
The growing long-term appeal of carbon-free power in the U.S. is exemplified by the phenomenal growth of wind power, which has quadrupled since 2000 to more than 10,000 megawatts nationwide. That said, wind still represents less than 1 percent of all U.S. power capacity.

Perhaps more telling is the resurgence of interest in the U.S. for nuclear power, whose image was battered by the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 and bruised by the Chernobyl accident in 1986. Concerns about nuclear waste also run high.

But sensing that public resistance to nuclear will wane as concerns about global warming rise, more than a dozen companies, including Duke, NRG, Entergy Corp. and Exelon Corp., have notified the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission that they plan to apply for licenses to build new reactors.

Notifications began pouring in after Congress passed an energy bill last summer that included tax credits and other perks to encourage nuclear power, which is also seen as a way to become less reliant on high and volatile natural-gas prices.

Constellation Energy Group Inc. of Baltimore, in a partnership with France’s Areva called UniStar Nuclear, is considering building five new reactors, including one each at existing nuclear facilities in Maryland and New York.

For Constellation, nuclear is “the most preferred energy supply of the future,” said Mike Wallace, head of the company’s power-generation division.

If all goes smoothly, the first new reactor in the U.S. since the mid-1970s could be completed within ten years, analysts and industry officials said.

Coal and conservation
While nuclear presents a significant opportunity in the fight against carbon emissions, the country’s unbridled dependence on traditional coal is a major obstacle.

More than 150 new coal plants have been proposed in the U.S., which has the world’s largest coal reserves. And while there is much optimism about the long-term potential for “clean coal” technology, it will only be used in about 10 percent of the plants currently on the drawing board.

Even these so-called coal gasification plants will not solve global warming overnight. While they are far more efficient than older coal plants, the real promise rests in their compatibility with emissions-capture equipment. Unfortunately, “a laundry list of technical challenges” could take a decade or more to resolve, according to Revis James, director of EPRI’s technology assessment division.

The dearth of simple carbon-free solutions leaves an executive like Duke’s Rogers in a difficult position. Sure, he is making plans to add nuclear and coal-gasification power plants, but an important aspect of “cathedral thinking” is a recognition that addressing global warming requires immediate action.

For that reason, Rogers is promoting the need for greater energy efficiency whenever he can.

But in order for that to succeed, Rogers said elected officials and regulators will have to come up with financial incentives that will encourage utilities to sell less electricity.

“Hope,” he said, “is not a plan.”

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