Carbon-free carbon saves the day!
The “good” news is that the state’s largest electric utility, Xcel Energy, will be meeting Minnesota’s mandate for 100% “carbon-free” electricity five years early.
The better news for consumers is that the utility won’t ever really meet the mandate.
Walker Orenstein of the Minnesota Star Tribune reports on action yesterday at the state Public Utilities Commission:
Xcel Energy says it expects to meet Minnesota’s carbon-free law five years before the 2040 deadline by shutting down its coal plants, extending the life of two nuclear plants, and building vast amounts of new wind, solar and battery power.
Okay, but here’s the real news:
Xcel, Minnesota’s largest electric utility, plans to build one new gas plant in 2028 and keep some of that fossil fuel generation around even in 2040.
As I’ve pointed out before, “some” fossil fuel generation will equal 20 percent of Xcel’s total generating capacity. Presumably, to get to “100 percent carbon-free,” that last 20 percent will be made up of renewable energy credits or some such expensive legal fiction.
The chemical formula for natural gas (methane) is CH4. The equation for the combustion of methane is:
CH4 + 2O2 –> CO2 + 2H2O
(I took college chemistry.) CO2 is carbon dioxide and H2O in this instance is steam.
As the old cliche has it, hypocrisy is the tribute paid by vice to virtue. In this case, hypocrisy is the tribute that climate virtue is paying to hard reality. A modern, first-world civilization cannot be run on 100 percent renewable (intermittent) wind and solar power. It needs fossil fuels (and a generous helping of unidentified imported power).
Orenstein summarizes Xcel’s dilemma:
Xcel is losing a major amount of its power supply by closing its Sherco and Allen S. King coal plants in phases by 2030. At the same time, the company will need far more energy than ever as tech companies like Amazon and Meta plan data centers and more Minnesotans buy electric vehicles and appliances like heaters.
In that case, let’s call the whole thing off.