Matthew Kandrach's recent guest column, "The Grid Reliability Trap Behind Solar's Latest Milestone," warned us not to celebrate the fact that solar energy recently overtook coal-powered electricity in the United States. Kandrach did concede that this milestone was worth celebrating "by some." Presumably he means those of us with lungs.
Kandrach is a former lobbyist from Florida who now works in Washington, D.C. His column circulated nationally, and in it he issued stern warnings that we're wrong to celebrate the progress of solar and wind energy, because the wind and sun apparently aren't perpetually available. This is a tired trope, and the good news is that we have much better, cleaner, and cheaper ways of generating electricity now. Energy is changing for good reasons, and honestly, we should celebrate that.
There are three major problems with Kandrach's argument. First, coal isn't nearly as reliable as Kandrach portrays it. He's not from here, so it's not his fault that he doesn't know that the Colstrip plant failed to deliver its full capacity during both the coldest and hottest weeks in 2024, which were the two highest peaks in demand that year. A study by Grid Strategies showed that Colstrip can only be relied on for about half of its full capacity. Aging coal plants are no longer the bastions of reliability that people (and Northwestern Energy) imagine them to be.
Secondly, utilities and grid operators are well aware that solar and wind are variable. There are many tools to manage the ebbs and flows of renewables, and grids with a higher percentage of renewables are equally reliable as grids awash in fossil fuels. Energy can be stored for later use, and peaks in electricity demand can be smoothed and lowered with all manner of tools, like transmission, demand response, and flexible operations for industrial-scale electricity users.
Batteries are turning out to be excellent energy stabilizers and money savers. In areas with lots of renewables, batteries charge up when there's extra electricity – which also means cheap electricity. Then they discharge during the most expensive times of day, which is usually in the evening, as we all come home from work, cook dinner, and heat or cool our homes. Batteries' ability to store cheap energy that can be used during expensive times is why they are already deployed all around the world. But Northwestern Energy doesn't own a single grid-scale battery. Sad!
Lastly, coal is really polluting. I appreciate the nostalgia around the good ol' days of coal, but burning coal kills a whole lot of people. Nearly a half million Americans died prematurely due to coal-fired electricity from 1999 to 2020. That pencils out to 60 people per day who met an early death due to air pollution from coal. If this figure shocks you, you're in good company. For some reason, we've failed to fully grapple with how damaging and deadly coal really is.
The Colstrip plant is the most polluting power plant in the nation for airborne toxins. It's one of the few power plants that hasn't updated its filters to catch tiny, toxic particles coming from the plant. RMI estimated that over the past 10 years, pollution from the Colstrip plant has caused 15 premature deaths, 188 emergency room visits, and more than 90,000 cases of asthma symptoms. That adds up to $2.1 billion dollars in healthcare costs.
While the rest of the U.S. is moving in the right direction, Montana is going backward. This year, Northwestern Energy nearly quadrupled the amount of coal in its portfolio, and now it's eager to find some data centers to plug into all of that extra coal.
We've got a lot of work to do here in Montana, but we should still celebrate the progress happening elsewhere.
Saving lives is worth celebrating. Saving money is also worth celebrating, and so are all the advances of modern, cleaner, and more efficient energy. So let's cheer for the good news when it happens. Don't let anyone throw shade at solar energy, because cleaner air and lower bills benefit all of us.
Karin Kirk is a geologist and science journalist specializing in energy and climate. She serves on the board of directors of Montanans for Affordable Energy.
