Whether scorched birds are a major issue at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System inCalifornia is a matter of dispute. But the “power tower” solar plant and its owners -- NRG Energy, Google and BrightSource Energy -- might have an even more fundamental problem on their hands: generating adequate electricity.

The Mojave Desert plant, built with the aid of a $1.6 billion federal loan guarantee, kicked off commercial operation at the tail end of December 2013, and for the eight-month period from January through August, its three units generated 254,263 megawatt-hours of electricity, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data. That’s roughly one-quarter of the annual 1 million-plus megawatt-hours that had been anticipated.

The U.S. Energy Information Agency projects that the price of natural gas will more than double by 2035 measured in constant 2012 dollars. Meanwhile, the same survey projects that steam coal prices will increase by less than 15 percent. 

The chart at right was included in the EIA’s Annual Energy Report. Following are key sections of that report.

Coal production in the United States was up 2.8 percent for the week ending November 1st from the same week last year, according to weekly figures released by the US Energy Information Agency (EIA).  Production for the week was up slightly more than a half million tons to 18.9 million tons from 18.4 million tons for the same week in 2013. Production for the previous 52 weeks, however, remains down, off by 0.3 percent or almost 2.5 million tons, compared to the same period last year, 983 million tons.

You have less than one month to add your name to the Friends of Coal petition to protect America’s coal jobs. We have now collected more than 12,000 signatures on letters of support of America’s coal miners through our convenient online tool.

The online tool allows you to file your comments calling on EPA to rescind its job-killing regulations that are halting the construction of new coal-fired power plants and essentially forcing the closure of existing plants.  The letters are sent directly to the EPA’s official comments email address.

To date we have collected 12,289 letters of opposition to the EPA’s GHG regulations. You have until December 1, 2014 to register your comments.

If you have not already done so, we ask that you visit the out online petition and add your support. You can do so at www.friendsofcoal.org/soundoff.  Do it today!

The West Virginia Coal Association and Friends of Coal expanded their outreach efforts through the weeks leading up to the election, hosting two Coal “Town Hall” meetings, one in Beckley and another in Morgantown, last week, along with appearances at several other events in conjunction with our endorsed candidates.

Both Town Hall meetings were well attended. The meeting in Beckley, held at the Tamarack Conference Center on Oct. 27, drew a standing room only crowd. It was well covered by the local media and featured a summary of the current state of the industry along with introductions of our endorsed candidates who were in attendance. The second Town Hall, in Morgantown on Oct. 31, was held in conjunction with the Association’s fall meeting and drew a large crowd to the Waterfront Hotel Conference Center. The crowd of more than 100 again heard an overview of the current industry status and was introduced to our list of endorsed candidates.