That fleet is a fraction of the nearly 17,000 MW of capacity, including about 1,900 MW of renewable energy, that FirstEnergy used to control. PJM has no carbon pricing market mechanisms today but has launched a stakeholder process to study the potential for creating one.įirstEnergy currently does not own any regulated renewable generation, but it is seeking approval next year to build “at least” 50 megawatts of solar in West Virginia, the company’s plan states. The company has not detailed plans to add more zero-carbon generation, and, Ingraham added, “The ability to reduce our emissions is not reliant on adding zero-carbon energy since our goal is based on absolute emissions and not carbon intensity." FirstEnergy’s changing resource mix and troubling links to Ohio bribery investigation “Changes planned at our generating fleet to achieve the 30 percent target by 2030 include evaluating the ability to increase turn-down capability, dispatch units to reflect the cost of carbon, embracing future technologies, and modifying coal contracts as appropriate,” Ingraham said in the email. Those generators take part in PJM’s markets, rather than serving FirstEnergy’s distribution utilities directly. The plans also include improving the operational efficiency of its transmission network and replacing grid equipment that contains sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), a potent greenhouse gas.įirstEnergy’s generation fleet under its operational control consists of 3,780 megawatts, of which about 3,000 MW come from two coal-fired power plants in West Virginia the remainder is from pumped hydro storage facilities. FirstEnergy is asking regulators to approve plans to replace about 30 percent of that fleet with electric or hybrid vehicles by 2030, and then to reach 100 percent electrification by 2050. ![]() Those emissions under its operational control include those from its vehicle fleet, she stated. “Our carbon neutrality and greenhouse gas reduction goals pertain to emissions over which we have operational ownership and control, not power supplied outside our fleet,” FirstEnergy spokesperson Tricia Ingraham wrote in a Wednesday email. Setting the boundaries of FirstEnergy’s carbon-reduction goals Carbon dioxide emissions from PJM’s 13-state footprint have fallen by 34 percent from 2005 to 2019 to stand at 850 pounds per megawatt-hour of generation, according to a March report. The majority of these utilities are in the territory of mid-Atlantic grid operator PJM and secure energy and capacity through its wholesale markets. Much of the rest of its strategy pertains to grid investments and efficiency improvements for its transmission subsidiaries and its 10 electric distribution companies serving about 6 million customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York. But its target for exiting coal “by 2050 or earlier” provides little guidance on how this will play a part in reaching its 2030 goal of cutting emissions by 30 percent from 2019 levels. ![]() ![]() And the Akron, Ohio-based utility holding company’s new pledge doesn’t clarify how it will take on the challenge of ending its use of coal-fired power.įirstEnergy’s climate strategy released Monday notes that the utility will “need to move beyond” the coal-fired power that now makes up about four-fifths of the generation capacity under its control. utilities that are making similar pledges. utilities in promising to reduce its carbon footprint to zero by 2050.īut its reliance on its own coal-fired power plants in a region with relatively low levels of renewable energy could make that goal even more challenging than it’s expected to be for other U.S. ![]() Ohio-based utility FirstEnergy is following the example of an increasing number of U.S.
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