Los Angeles utility announces plans to go coal free

• 11 years ago (2013-03-22)
• Junior Isles

North America 1021

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The city of Los Angeles, California, USA, will abandon coal-fuelled electricity according to the city’s Department of Water and Power, the US’s largest municipal-owned utility, and instead support renewable energy, energy efficiency and natural gas generation.

LA will become the largest US city to go coal free once it phases out the electricity it imports from the coal-fired Navajo Generating Station in Arizona and Intermountain Power in Utah, which currently provide 39 per cent of the city’s power.

The LA Department of Water and Power has also stated it will sell off its stake in the Navajo facility, and end using power from that plant by 2015.

“The era of coal is over,” Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in a statement. “By divesting from coal and investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency, we reduce our carbon footprint and set a precedent for the national power market.”

Los Angeles has already progressed more than most in cutting greenhouse-gas emissions, with levels more than 28 per cent down on 1990 levels; more than any other major US city.

Coal accounted for 37 per cent of power generation in LA last year, down from 45 per cent in 2010 and almost 50 per cent in 2005, figures from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) show.

The US has already closed 15 per cent of its coal-fired capacity in recent years, representing 105 GW of potential generation, and putting it more than halfway towards the goal set by environmental groups of retiring 30 per cent of the US coal fleet by 2020.

Former vice president Al Gore has praised the move in a statement, saying the “decision to end Los Angeles’ reliance on dirty coal and guide the city to a more sustainable future is a bold step on the path towards solving the climate crisis.”