How the Husks of Old Power Plants Can Help the Climate Fight
Building the infrastructure the US needs to decarbonize is daunting. Luckily, many of yesterday’s coal plant sites are ripe for reuse.
Inactive conveyors at a closed coal-fired power plant.
Photographer: Nathan Laine/BloombergIt is now five months since the US Inflation Reduction Act created hundreds of billions of dollars in support for decarbonization technologies. In that time I have had many discussions with entrepreneurs, investors, financiers and energy developers about it. All, needless to say, are excited. That excitement can be a bit breathless at times.
But when the principals of deep decarbonization catch their breath, there is something else they mention. It is weariness, crossed with wariness. Their concern: What if deploying everything the IRA promises isn’t possible through technology, or money, or willpower? What if, instead, it comes up against a massively distributed blocking mechanism — a collective inability to navigate new assets through sclerotic planning and permission schedules?