How Much New Coal Power in North America?
Balancing Politics and Economics. Decisions on coal-fired power generation have always been driven by a delicate balance between changing and interacting economics and politics. Political opposition to coal-fired generation has intensified in North America owing to concerns about carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The economic competitiveness of new coal power relative to combined-cycle gas turbine power has become murky and overshadowed by the unfavorable politics, resulting in a slowdown in new coal capacity development. • US Carbon Trading Goes Live: The Northeast’s RegionalGreenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The RGGI is the first cap-and-trade program in the United States to set mandatory CO2 limits for the power sector. Stretching from Maryland to Maine, RGGI caps power sector CO2 emissions at past levels beginning in 2009 and requires a 10 percent reduction by 2018. Although electric power generators already have experience with cap-and-trade programs for sulfur dioxide and nitrogen o
