AEP CEO sees crisis without more coal plants

By Bernie Woodall and Eileen O'Grady

HOUSTON (Reuters) - The United States faces an electricity crisis if it eschews coal-fired power plants on its way to a low-carbon economy, said the chief executive of American Electric Power, one of the nation's biggest utilities.

Michael Morris of AEP said that he fears the United States will rely on natural gas plants too heavily if it drastically cuts burning coal to make electricity.

"We will find ourselves in a classic electric shortage and we will probably pursue the line that this country usually follows when it faces a shortage and come up with some terribly ill-conceived answers," if construction of coal-fired power plants continues to be curtailed, Morris said.

Within five years to a decade, heavy industrial users will face involuntary power cuts unless more coal plants that emit less carbon dioxide (CO2) come on line, said Morris, speaking to energy executives at the week-long CERA conference in Houston.

U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Joseph Kelliher, also speaking at the CERA conference on Friday, said that 54 percent of coal-fired power plants ordered since 2000 have been canceled in the past two years.

Coal-fired power plants produce about 40 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

A so-called "dash to gas" in building power plants that burn natural gas "will lead us to a very, very reckless conclusion on the cost of energy as we go forward," said Morris.

"If we don't find a way inside of the carbon challenge to retrofit the existing coal fleet, we will find ourselves in a huge dilemma," Morris said. "You simply can't pare off plant after plant after plant and have the U.S. economy leap forward in any way, shape or form."