New analysis of the costs of coal power versus solar power shows an enormous and growing advantage by solar. In fact, it costs consumers twice as much just to keep Duke Energy’s existing coal plants in North Carolina running than it would cost to shut them all down and replace them with new solar power. 

Writing for Energy News Network, reporter Elizabeth Ouzts says, “The analysis by the clean energy policy firm Energy Innovation, the third of its kind, reflects the worsening economics of coal and the ever-tumbling prices of wind and solar. And it shows how incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act — the major federal climate law that passed last year — are making locally sourced renewables even more attractive.” 

The report looked at 210 coal plants currently in service nationwide. “If you look at the fleet [of coal-powered plants] as a whole, you see a pretty stark trend of all of the plants are uneconomic, by a wide margin, compared to renewables,” said Mike O’Boyle, the director of Energy Innovation’s electricity program and a co-author of the report. “In North Carolina, the savings potential is significant.”

It’s time to pick up the pace of transitioning to cleaner, more reliable, and cheaper renewable energy.