Markets, Trump Still Split Over Plan to Rescue Uneconomic Generators

SUGAR LAND, TEXAS--August 13, 2018--Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Although the Trump administration has provided few details about plans to provide economic support for uneconomic coal and nuclear power plants after an internal memo on the topic was leaked in late May, economists have weighed in with widely varying estimates about the potential costs of that policy. Meanwhile, in the market, utilities continue to close coal-fired power plants, and consumption of thermal coal to generate electricity continues to decline. The newest addition to an ever-widening energy scrum is a new policy analysis from the New York University School of Law that said bailing out uneconomic coal and nuclear power plants would not be an example of best-practices policymaking. Within this article: Various studies of the potential costs of supporting uneconomic coal-fired and nuclear power plants. Other companies featured: AES Corporation (NYSE:AES)