Lignite of the Living Dead notes that utilities may keep
coal plants running at a loss for many reasons, including: hopes that governments will make capacity payments for
guaranteed power
supply or payments to retire plants; expectations that competitors will close plants, pushing power prices up; the clean - up costs associated with retiring plants; and opposition to closures from governments for political reasons.
It was conventional energy, predominantly
coal, that
guaranteed security of
supply, and the NETL authors leave no doubt as to the consequences if it had not done so in the crucial PJM zones: