Useful US paper explaining why investment in coal-fire power is mad

Carbon Risk, Coal, and Higher Electricity Prices - why coal-generated electricity will cost more than energy companies claim.

Abstract

"Gambling with Coal - How Future Climate Laws Will Make New Coal Power Plants More Expensive", by Barbara Freese and Steve Clemmer from the Union of Concerned Scientists.sea

New conventional coal plants are an imprudent financial investment. The world scientific community warns that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from our use of fossil fuels, especially coal, is leading to dangerous global warming. Policies to reduce CO2 emissions are emerging at every level of government, including in the US Congress, which is actively considering several mandatory, market-based CO2 proposals with increasing support from the private sector. Laws requiring coal plants to pay to emit CO2 will be adopted in the next few years, substantially raising the costs of coal power.

Nevertheless, many utilities have proposed investing in new conventional coal plants that will operate for decades, ignoring the economic impact of these virtually inevitable CO2 reduction laws, perhaps because they believe they will be able to pass these costs on to ratepayers. Utility managers and shareholders should reconsider the financial risks to their companies and customers. Regulators should prevent utilities from making these major investment mistakes by refusing to approve the construction of new conventional coal plants and by requiring them to invest in cleaneralternatives, or at the very least, by warning utilities that CO2 costs must be borne by their shareholders, not by ratepayers.