The Democratic National Convention likely will receive much of its electricity from coal, despite the party’s goal of offsetting the convention’s emissions with renewables and other zero-carbon energy resources.
The Philadelphia convention partnered with Exelon, the largest nuclear power utility in the country, to offset greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels by taking advantage of Pennsylvania’s large number of zero-emission nuclear power plants.
“Meeting our nation’s goal to create a clean, next-generation power grid will require a sustained commitment to an all-of-the-above energy strategy that includes preserving existing zero-carbon nuclear power plants combined with hydro, solar, wind and other clean resources,” said Joseph Dominguez, executive vice president for government and public policy.
But Pennsylvania’s large deregulated electricity market does not discriminate between electricity produced from solar and that produced from coal. That means that the bulk of the electricity coming into Philadelphia this week will come from coal and natural gas. Nuclear likely will provide a big chunk of that electricity as well, but renewable energy will be tiny in comparison.
PJM Interconnection, the giant, federally overseen energy market that comprises Pennsylvania and a number of other Mid-Atlantic states, said on Monday that as of 3 p.m., the bulk of the market’s electricity was coming from coal and natural gas power plants.
Coal will provide much of the electricity, especially as the grid is strained by a heat wave that will continue for the duration of the convention. Coal production was at 52,820 megawatts (MW), natural gas was right behind with 49,267 MW and nuclear was number three at 30,950 MW, according to PJM’s electricity demand tracking data. Renewables produced just 6,367 MW, with the bulk of that coming from hydropower.
Given the market realities and the dominance of fossil fuels in the Mid-Atlantic, the company will have to meet the DNC’s zero-emission goal by purchasing renewable energy credits to offset the emissions from fossil fuels.
A combination of renewable energy certificates and emission-free energy certificates from nuclear, solar, wind and hydro generation sources will be used “to counterbalance the convention’s carbon footprint,” according to a statement on the convention website. “Purchase of the certificates supports existing zero-carbon generation and helps incentivize the development of new projects.”
Exelon underscored its commitment to low-carbon energy given the Democratic platform’s support for the nation receiving 50 percent of its electricity from clean energy resources in the next decade and 100 percent clean energy by 2050.
“The host committee is thrilled to partner with Exelon to make this convention sustainability-forward and work towards neutralizing its carbon footprint,” said former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who is chairman of the committee.
The Energy Information Administration, the Department of Energy’s data and analysis arm, said Pennsylvania ranked second in the nation in 2015 for electricity generation from nuclear power.
The state obtained 37.2 percent of its net electricity generation from nuclear power plants, according to EIA, which updated its analysis for the state on July 21. Renewable energy provided just 4 percent of state’s net electricity generation last year.
More than half of the state’s households beginning in 2014 relied on natural gas as their primary heating fuel, while 21 percent depended on electricity for heat and 19 percent relied on fuel oil.
The agency said Pennsylvania was the nation’s fourth-largest coal producer in 2014, and remains a major producer of natural gas from fracking.
