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First U.S. Coal Plant in Years Opens Where No Options Exist

  • No gas, little sun, few winds make Alaska site ripe for fuel
  • ‘Not saying this is ideal,’ school says, but mine is close
Coal Snared in Headwind as Traders Flee $300 Billion Market

Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg

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One way to boost coal in the U.S.: Find a spot near a mine with no access to oil or natural gas pipelines, where it’s not particularly windy and it’s dark much of the year.

That’s how the first coal-fired plant to open in the U.S. since 2015 bucked the trend in an industry that’s seen scores of facilities close in recent years. A 17-megawatt generator, built for $245 million, is set to open in April at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, just 100 miles from the state’s only coal mine.