I worked at Sooner power plant for around 15 years before retiring. Our steam to run the turbines was at 2500psi and 1005 degrees F.
Coal supplies required 150 railroad coal cars a day just to maintain daily service. Used 8 million pounds of air every 24 hours, emitting very little pollution because of the way the boilers were fired, and scrubbers in the system.
Coal is a very efficient way to produce electricity. Coal plants are what is refered to in the industry as base load plants. They run 24/7/365 at full capacity.
Natural gas plants are currently running pretty cheap as the price of NG is down enough that the gas plants can produce a megawatt cheaper currently.
The regulations that obummer put on the industry has crippled the coal industry in the US by making the enviromental standards so high that they are almost impossible to meet without major plant modifications. Older coal units are sometimes so old that the parent company doesn't have the money to make those mods and bring the plants up to obama's standards.
Yes, Trump kicked those regs into the gutter, but the damage was already done. Obama's regulations required the modifications by a certain date or be mandatorily shut down by the government(EPA) if not met.
Only a few companies manufacture the equipment(scrubbers) that obamas regs required so it was a huge rush to get contracts written and money approved to get the scrubbers installed before the deadline.
Some companies just could not cover the expense and others couldn't get contracts done in time to meet the deadline.
Makes you wonder who owns stock and is on the boards of those companies. All of this climate change nonsense is nothing but a money grab.
People can be bought.
Oklahoma has had the Corporation commission make some really bad decisions about our power industry in the past. When their term ends, look into history to see who they went to work for.
I'm not going to name names either. Bob Anthony has been on the side of the users and the power companies for the most part which is why he keeps getting re-elected. I'll vote for him the next term as well.
