Texas power companies converting from natural gas to coal, lignite
A discussion showed that in 1975, some 90% of the electric power generated in Texas was made by burning natural gas, but by 1985, if current plans are realized, 60% of it will be generated in plants burning coal and lignite, roughly half coal and half lignite. In 1975, the Texas Railroad Commission ordered major users of natural gas as a boiler fuel to restrict consumption. No new facilities burning natural gas were to be built and users of over 3 million cu ft/day were ordered to cut consumption by 10% by 1981 and 25% by 1985. The Texas Utilities Co., which had a lignite-fired plant in the 1920's, and has experimented with lignite ever since, already has several lignite-fired plants in operation or under construction. In 1985, it is contemplated that total lignite plant generating capacity will be 14,556 MW. Lignite-fueled plants are more expensive to build than plants using natural gas or oil as fuel. However, in 1976, Texas Utilities put the cost of lignite at $0.288/million Btu or about 14% of the market price of intrastate natural gas. It is estimated that 10 billion tons of Texas lignite lie within 200 ft of the surface, but estimates of the economically recoverable portion vary in the range 2.5 to 8.5 billion tons.
- OSTI ID:
- 5693668
- Journal Information:
- Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States), Journal Name: Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States) Vol. 198:4316; ISSN SCIEA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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014000* -- Coal
Lignite
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20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS
200108 -- Fossil-Fueled Power Plants-- Fuels-- (1980-)
BOILER FUELS
BROWN COAL
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COAL
COMBUSTION
CONVERSION
ENERGY CONVERSION
ENERGY SOURCES
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
FUEL GAS
FUEL SUBSTITUTION
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
LIGNITE
MATERIALS
NATURAL GAS
NORTH AMERICA
OXIDATION
POWER PLANTS
RESOURCE ASSESSMENT
SOUTHWEST REGION
TEXAS
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
USA
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