A Whole New Ballgame: Indiana Coal and the New Energy Landscape

Client: Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana

Authors: Liz Stanton, PhD, Bryndis Woods, Joshua Castigliego, Eliandro Tavares and Sagal Alisalad

February 2020

Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD, Researchers Bryndis Woods and Joshua Castigliego and Assistant Researchers Eliandro Tavares and Sagal Alisalad prepared a report on behalf of the Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana that responds to several myths that persist regarding claimed benefits of aging coal-fired generators over renewable wind and solar. The report finds that legacy power generation sources like coal are characterized by a lack of flexibility, making them costly and inconvenient to integrate with more modern renewables.

Link to Report

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Testimony on Indiana Michigan Power Company's Integrated Resource Plan

Client: Earthjustice

Author: Tyler Comings

January 2020

AEC Senior Researcher Tyler Comings filed testimony on behalf of Sierra Club on the Indiana Michigan Power Company (I&M) Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) in Michigan, focusing on two coal units (Rockport 1 and 2). Mr. Comings found that I&M was justified in proposing retirement  of Rockport 1 in 2028 and letting its lease expire for Rockport 2 in 2022. Mr. Comings found that there was additional savings from retiring the Rockport 1 unit even earlier than I&M was proposing: 2025 instead of 2028. He also recommended additional Commission oversight of the Company's share of output from the Kyger Creek and Clifty Creek coal units.

Link to Testimony

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Benefits of Net Zero Buildings: Comfort, Safety, Value, Climate

Client: Massachusetts Climate Action Network (MCAN)

Authors: Bryndis Woods and Eliandro Tavares

January 2020

On behalf of the Massachusetts Climate Action Network (MCAN), AEC has prepared a policy brief that presents a summary of the benefits of Net Zero buildings, such as enhanced health and comfort, home durability and safety, better value, and positive climate effects. A Net Zero building produces at least as much renewable energy in a year as it consumes, and the technology is currently ready for implementation.

Link to Policy Brief

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Testimony on the Public Service Company of New Mexico's (PNM) Plan for Replacing the San Juan Coal Units

Aerial photo of San Juan Generating Station, by Doc Searls

Client: Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy (CCAE)

Author: Tyler Comings

December 2019

AEC Senior Researcher Tyler Comings filed testimony on behalf of the Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy (CCAE) on Public Service Company of New Mexico's (PNM) plan for replacing the San Juan coal units with new resources. Mr. Comings testified that CCAE's replacement plan was a viable alternative and would invest more in the existing San Juan region than PNM's replacement plan. Mr. Comings also testified to flaws in PNM's resource evaluation that were addressed in developing CCAE's plan.

Link to Testimony

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Massachusetts Gas versus Massachusetts Climate Goals

Client: Gas Leak Allies

Authors: Liz Stanton, PhD, Bryndis Woods, Joshua Castigliego and Eliandro Tavares

December 2019

Prepared on behalf of Gas Leak Allies by Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD, Researchers Bryndis Woods and Joshua Castigliego, and Assistant Researcher Eliandro Tavares, this Applied Economics Clinic policy brief demonstrates why Massachusetts cannot both continue to utilize gas for heating and meet legally mandated statewide emission reduction targets. There is a clear economic argument for focusing gas system investments on improving safety while transitioning away from gas to clean, highly efficient technologies as quickly as possible. Moving away from gas will make communities safer, save utility customers money, and meet the Commonwealth’s climate goals.

Link to Policy Brief

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Report on Indiana Michigan Power Company 2018-19 IRP

Wildcat Wind Farm, Indiana

Clients: Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana and Earthjustice

Authors: Liz Stanton, PhD, Anna Sommer, Chelsea Hotaling, Chris Neme

December 2019

Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD contributed to comments on Indiana Michigan Power Company's most recent Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), which are filed with the Utility Commission to demonstrate that utilities' decisions to retire and/or add electric generation are in the public interest. While technical, these evaluations provide an important benefit to utility customers and the Indiana public more widely. Third-party review of these and other utilities filings is critical to vet for errors, uncover questionable or self-serving assumptions, and make hidden value-judgments transparent. Important issues found in reviewing Indiana utilities’ 2016 Plans include biases both against retiring coal generation and against adopting new efficiency measures and renewable resources. This testimony is part of a joint AEC and Energy Futures Group series of comments on Indiana utility Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs) on behalf of Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana and Earthjustice.

Report on Indiana Michigan Power Company IRP

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Cost and Emission Impacts of Community Choice Energy: Renewable Energy Options for the City of Chelsea

Client: GreenRoots

Authors: Bryndis Woods, Sagal Alisalad, and Hannah Brown

November 2019

Researcher Bryndis Woods, Assistant Researcher Sagal Alisalad, and Research Assistant Hannah Brown present the cost and emission savings of different designs for Community Choice Energy (CCE) programs in the City of Chelsea, Massachusetts as compared to electricity purchased from the default utility. This policy brief concludes that all types of CCE programs save residents money on their electric bills, and that Chelsea has the potential to reduce its emissions by an additional 34 percent by 2030 if it chooses to pursue a CCE program that mandates 25 percent more renewable energy than Massachusetts law.

Link to Policy Brief

Link to Data

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Marginal Cost of Emissions Reductions in Massachusetts

Client: Green Energy Consumers Alliance (GECA)

Authors: Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD, Research Assistant Tanya Stasio and Researcher Bryndis Woods

November 2019

Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD, Research Assistant Tanya Stasio and Researcher Bryndis Woods prepared a white paper that estimates the per ton cost of the most expensive measure needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 21 million metric tons (MMT) of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂-e) by 2030—as required by the Commonwealth’s Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA). AEC projects that the most expensive (per ton of CO₂-e) measure needed to comply with the GWSA in 2030 will be residential and commercial thermal electrification: switching from burning gas to using electric heat pumps. The estimated cost of switching from gas to electric heat pumps in 2030 is $13 per ton of avoided CO₂-e. In total, 12.2 MMT of CO₂-e reductions in 2030 can be achieved at zero or net negative cost. An additional 64.0 MMT are available for under $50 per ton. In sum, there are sufficient cost-effective opportunities to meet and even exceed the reductions needed to stay on track with GWSA targets.

Link to White Paper

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Technosilvicultural Reclamation for Environmental Emission Sequestration

Clients: Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET) and Speak for the Trees (SFTT)

Authors: Bryndis Woods and Liz Stanton, PhD

November 2019

Researcher Bryndis Woods and Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD prepared a policy brief that compares two cutting-edge carbon dioxide emission sequestration (or storage) technologies on the basis of cost, history of success, near-term commercial viability, co-benefits, and potential risks: 1) Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), and 2) Technosilvicultural Reclamation for Environmental Emission Sequestration (TREES). Our assessment finds TREES facilities to be competitive with, or superior to, CCS in all evaluation categories: TREES facilities are less expensive per ton of CO2 stored, have a longer history of success, stronger near-term viability, more robust co-benefits, and fewer risks than CCS.

Link to Report

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Testimony on Duke Energy Indiana's Coal Fleet

Client: Sierra Club

Tyler Comings

November 2019

Senior Researcher Tyler Comings filed testimony on the cost of Duke Energy Indiana’s coal fleet in Cause No. 45253 before the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. Mr. Comings concluded that the Edwardsport plant was uneconomic and should be retired as soon as possible. He also recommended disallowances of costs associated with the coal fleet, a requirement for evaluating earlier retirement of the units, and that the Commission open an investigation into Duke’s “self-commitment” of its coal units and the practice's impact on customers.

Link to Testimony

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Testimony on Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) Least Cost Integrated Resource Plan

Client: Environmental Defense Fund

Liz Stanton, PhD

October 2019

On behalf of Environmental Defense Fund, Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD provided Applied Economics Clinic expert testimony to Docket 2018-0001 before the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau. In her testimony, Dr. Stanton recommended that the Energy Bureau reject Puerto Rico’s energy utility’s (PREPA) June 2019 IRP and require that the Utility submit a new IRP under a set of outlined instructions and conditions. Dr. Stanton concluded that PREPA must constrain all scenarios to follow Puerto Rican Law, must submit model runs with higher demand forecasts, must issue an all resource RFP for new generation and peak-shifting resources, and must hold stakeholder meetings for the general public for future IRPs, including meetings in Spanish.

Link to 2018-0001 Testimony

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Puerto Rico Integrated Resource Plan: Lessons from Hawaii's Electric Sector

Client: Earthjustice

Authors: Bryndis Woods, Eliandro Tavares, Sagal Alisalad and Liz Stanton, PhD

October 2019

Researcher Bryndis Woods, Assistant Researchers Eliandro Tavares and Sagal Alisalad and Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD prepared a report that compares Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s (PREPA’s) most recent version of its Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), released in June 2019, to best practices distilled from the most recent Hawaiian electric sector planning process, which was finalized in 2016. The report presents the parallels between Hawaii and Puerto Rico’s island electric systems and outlines how important lessons from the Hawaiian context have the potential to improve Puerto Rico’s planning process, ensure that PREPA is in compliance with Puerto Rico’s climate laws, and provide the lowest possible rates to consumers.

Link to Report

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A Future for Indiana Coal: Emissions and Costs of Alternative Electric Generation

Client: Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana

Authors: Bryndis Woods and Liz Stanton, PhD

October 2019

Researcher Bryndis Woods and Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD prepared a report on behalf of the Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana that examines the cost and emission impacts of various options available to the State of Indiana as it replaces its aging coal generation fleet with other electric-generating resources. The report finds that: replacing aging coal with renewables reduces emissions and saves money and that gas-fired resources do not provide clear benefits as a bridge to greater renewables.

Link to Report

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Comparative Costs of Alaska Fire Management

Client: Union of Concerned Scientists

Authors: Liz Stanton, PhD, Sagal Alisalad, and Myisha Majumder

September 2019

Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD, Assistant Researcher Sagal Alisalad, and Research Assistant Myisha Majumder prepared a report that estimates the cost of fire management per tonne of CO₂ in Alaska using data on fire incidents in Alaska from 2007 to 2015. The report used econometric analysis to estimate the effects of fire management on the number of acres burned and calculate the cost to avoid forest fire per tonne of CO₂ saved. The report also presented costs of fire damages for a number of categories including property losses and timber lost.

Link to Report

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Local Responsibility for a Global Problem: Juliana v. U.S. (In Memory of Frank Ackerman)

Liz Stanton, PhD

September 2019

On September 18th, 2019, Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD spoke at Tufts University to celebrate the life and work of Frank Ackerman, one of the world's foremost experts on climate economics. Dr. Stanton remarked on Dr. Ackerman’s work on Juliana v. the United States, an ongoing case in which 21 kids are suing the U.S. government for knowingly failing to protect them from climate change. She said, "Frank would ask us—and ask the U.S. government—to weigh monetary costs against unmonetizable benefits. And to recognize when the only solution to a global problem requires the whole world’s participation, that reducing our moral responsibility to the isolated impacts of individual action is petty, specious, and really not the way anything important has ever gotten done in global history."

Read the full transcript of Dr. Stanton's speech, published in the Dollars&Sense and TripleCrisis blogs.

On Frank Ackerman:

In Memoriam, Frank Ackerman

Dr. Ackerman's Website

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Load Forecasting Best Practices

Client: Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana

Liz Stanton, PhD

September 2019

On behalf of Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD gave a presentation on best practices in load forecasting to the Indiana General Assembly's 21st Century Energy Policy Development Task Force at their September 19, 2019 meeting.

Link to Presentation

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An analysis of the need for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline Extension to Hampton Roads, Virginia

Client: Mothers Out Front

Liz Stanton, PhD, and Eliandro Tavares

September 2019

On behalf of Mothers Out Front, Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD, and Assistant Researcher Eliandro Tavares prepared a white paper that analyzed the need for the Hampton Roads spur of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. The white paper concludes that: Virginia Natural Gas (VNG) has substantially overstated its annual peak demand growth forecasts; VNG has presented no evidence that any gas supply constraint could affect electric supply in the region; and any industrial gas curtailments in the Hampton Roads area appear to have been voluntary in exchange for price reductions.

Link to White Paper

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Testimony on New Hampshire's Liberty Gas Supply Planning

Client: Conservation Law Foundation

Liz Stanton, PhD

September 2019

On behalf of Conservation Law Foundation, Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD provided Applied Economics Clinic expert testimony in Dockets 17-152 and 17-189 before the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission. In her testimonies, Dr. Stanton addressed the need to evaluate the environmental impacts of new gas infrastructure as it relates to climate change. Her testimonies concluded that Liberty Gas’ least cost integrated resource plan fails to adequately address the climate change impacts of the Company’s planned expansion of gas.

Link to 17-152 Testimony

Link to 17-198 Testimony

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Risks Growing for India’s Coal Sector

Client: Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA)

Authors: Bryndis Woods and David Schlissel (IEEFA)

September 2019

Researcher Bryndis Woods and Director of Resource Planning Analysis at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) David Schlissel prepared a report that presents three major risks confronting India’s coal sector:

(1)   The over-building of coal-fired capacity. The boom in coal plant construction during the early 2010s has resulted in significant over-capacity. The amount of installed coal-fired capacity in India is now 20 percent higher than the country’s peak demand level and fully 50 gigawatts (GW) above average demand levels.

(2)   Increasing competition from renewable energy sources, particularly during the monsoon season. Low-cost renewable wind and hydro energy sources have a great advantage during the monsoon season, when coal generation dips while wind and hydro generation peak.

(3) Declining water supplies. Groundwater levels across India are in decline. Since 2012, both total annual rainfall and monsoon rainfall have generally been below normal levels ‒ a major concern for coal generation, which requires substantial amounts of water for steam production and cooling.

The report concludes that these risks are already manifesting, and will intensify in the years ahead. As a result, Indian policy makers should: agree not to built additional coal-fired plants; review plants under construction for possible cancellation; conduct an economic assessment of the nation’s oldest coal-fired power plants to determine their financial viability; and address coal capacity in the most drought-stricken as a priority.

Link to Report

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Emission Reduction Synergies for Massachusetts Community Choice Energy Programs, Heat Pumps and Electric Vehicles

Client: Green Energy Consumers Alliance (GECA)

Authors: Bryndis Woods, Liz Stanton, PhD, Tyler Comings and Eliandro Tavares

August 2019

Researcher Bryndis Woods, Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD, Senior Researcher Tyler Comings and Assistant Researcher Eliandro Tavares prepared a policy brief that estimates the greenhouse gas emissions reduction impact from an electric heat pump or electric vehicle of a typical Massachusetts household enrolled in a Community Choice Energy (CCE) program. We find that Massachusetts households that have an electric heat pump or electric vehicle—as opposed to natural gas heating and electric A/C or a gas vehicle—and are enrolled in a CCE program with 5 percent additional renewable supply than mandated by state law reduce their emissions by 69 and 74 percent, respectively, in 2030.

Link to Policy Brief

Link to Citations and Notes

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