Energy & Science
Most Coal Plants in Biggest U.S. Grid Are Becoming Money-Losers
- About 70% of plants on PJM grid to become uneconomic in 2023
- Coal took the biggest hit as prices in PJM auction tumbled 64%
Photographer: Luke Sharett/Bloomberg
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Most of the coal plants that feed the biggest U.S. power grid will soon no longer be economic to run after prices in a key auction plunged to the lowest in 11 years.
Of the 44 coal-fired power plants on the grid operated by PJM Interconnection LLC, 32 will be unprofitable in 2023, the first full year that will be affected by results released last week for its capacity auction. That represents 38 gigawatts of capacity out of 47 total gigawatts supplied by coal, and is quadruple the number of money-losing coal facilities now, according to a BloombergNEF analysis on Monday.