DOE Pushing New Coal Plant In Alaska Because AI; It'll Use Lignite From A Coal Mine That Doesn't Exist

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Trump is pushing an aggressive AI and fossil fuel agenda after failing to revive the coal sector during his first stint in the White House. He’s ordered the Pentagon to procure power from coal plants, doled out millions of dollars to upgrade plants on the brink of closure, and directed aging units in states like Michigan and Colorado to keep running. Experts are still waiting for proof of a long-term comeback.

Ed. - This is what I've been saying all along. The AI/datacenter "boom" isn't about AI or datacenters. It's just a way to keep coal plants running, because that pleases the Toddler-In-Chief.

Now, the administration is trumpeting what could be the first new coal-fired power plant built in the U.S. since 2013.Trump officials this week announced that the Terra Energy Center, an affiliate of Canada-based Flatlands Energy, reached a $1 billion “agreement in principle” with South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries Power Systems for large-scale coal power plant boilers. It’s the first time those boilers have been ordered in the U.S. since 2006, according to the Interior Department.

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Terra’s current plant appears to include a mine mouth plant that would be fueled with coal — lignite to subbituminous — from a reserve in an area that Mobil Oil previously explored in the 1970s, said Blumenfeld. Flatlands, he noted, has drilled exploration holes throughout the area over the past eight years. What’s not clear is how the company will pay for the coal plant, overcome a lack of infrastructure in the area or whether carbon capture and sequestration is still on the table. “There is a lot of coal in this region but it has not been developed because it is remote,” said Blumenfeld. “There is no infrastructure [no roads, railroads, power, or ports, and labor is limited], [there are] the environmental sensitivities, and the coal has overall low heating values.”

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Erin McKittrick, an Alaska-based independent energy analyst, agreed and said Terra Energy Center’s project doesn’t appear to have purchase power agreements in place and that it makes little sense for a data center to rely on a coal mine and power plant that don’t exist. “That they ordered boilers for their patch of woods 70 miles from transmission lines doesn’t make sense,” she said. “The company basically is a coal lease and some PowerPoint slide decks.” A document before the borough last year states that the Matanuska Electric Association is “working closely with Terra Energy” on a nonbinding term sheet for a power purchase agreement and a “confidentiality agreement is in place.” The utility did not respond to a request for comment.

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https://www.eenews.net/articles/the-first-us-coal-plant-in-a-decade-is-on-shaky-ground/