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Market forces have aligned with public health concerns and environmental concerns to propel a power-generation shift that is epitomized by the impending shutdown by CPS Energy of the coal-fired J.T. Deely plant in south-central Texas. Resisting such change would prove unprofitable, writes a San Antonio editorial board: “The risk, beyond premature death or an unnecessarily warmer world, is that other nations will innovate as we stagnate.”

Utility heavyweights that include American Electric Power, Duke Energy, Southern Company and Xcel Energy continue to invest heavily in a move away from coal-fired electricity generation. Executives at such companies say the trend will continue, regardless of recent federal policy moves to thwart it. “Reducing reliance on coal, leveraging cleaner natural gas energy and expanding renewables on our system is part of our long-term investment strategy to continue to drive carbon out of our system,” said a spokesman for Duke.

As neighboring states attract investment capital and build their tax bases and employment growth around diversified energy economies, West Virginia lags in part because of political resistance to change. “West Virginians will be left behind if our elected officials do not act quickly and assertively to create a policy environment that encourages growth, competition and diversification in this newly unfolding energy system,” the author writes.

FirstEnergy announced this week it will close its three remaining coal-fired power plants in Ohio and its last one in Pennsylvania. The company said the plants cannot compete with electricity produced by renewables and natural gas. Some observers cautioned that the announcement may be largely political, however, as FirstEnergy continues to seek federal subsidies to keep the plants online. “We're talking about billions of dollars being used to bail out a failing industry, when these closures are inevitable and irreversible,” one critic of that strategy said. “There are a lot better uses for that money.”

A regional executive for Dominion Energy, one of the biggest investor-owned utility companies in the country, told the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce this week that the state would do well to look beyond coal as an economic mainstay. Dominion, headquartered in Virginia, has six million customers nationally. “For years, coal was the base of everything we did,” said Bob Orndorff, a state policy director for the company. “It still has a role, but we need to talk about wind. We need to talk about solar, because the Procter & Gambles of the world want that.” 

The U.S. electricity grid needs updating, and the best path forward is toward modernization built around new sources of energy, better transmission systems, and improved cyber-security. “A more distributed energy grid, with thousands of energy generation and storage sources, will be inherently more difficult to disrupt than one built around large centralized power plants,” the authors write.

Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co.’s decision not to renew a long-term power purchase agreement with the AES Shady Point coal-fired generation station puts the plant at imminent risk of closure as part of a trend that has taken root coast to coast. "That is happening all over the country," said Loyd Drain, a U.S. energy consultant. "Renewable prices have gone down so much, a lot of these coal plants around the country have operated at a loss for consumers because replacement power is cheaper."

An Arizona judge has sided with utility-industry reformers in ruling that a clean energy initiative will appear on the ballot when voters go to the polls in November. Executives at Arizona Public Service, the biggest electricity provider in the state, say they will appeal the decision. At issue is whether to allow development of solar resources at the likely expense of traditional power generation.

Colorado regulators have approved a plan by Xcel Energy to shift to renewable energy for power production over the next few years while closing 660 megawatts of coal-fired capacity by shutting down two aging plants in Pueblo. Xcel is planning to have 1,100 megawatts of wind-powered electricity capacity online by 2027, 700 megawatts of solar, 275 megawatts of battery storage and 380 megawatts from existing natural gas sources (a megawatt is enough to power about homes). Xcel’s strategy would invest $2.5 billion in eight counties, and the company said the changes would result in $213 million in ratepayer savings.

The Tennessee Valley Authority, which supplies electricity to consumers in seven states, is weighing whether to close more coal-fired power plants after having already shut down half of the 59-plant fleet it once operated. The TVA has generated less than 30 percent of its electricity from coal this year, down from almost 70 percent in the 1980s. The issue boils down to a question of costs, and how coal-generated power has become less competitive. "Say you're driving a 70-year-old car, what would be required to keep it on the road?" said TVA President Bill Johnson. “They are rather expensive to maintain.”