Soot to Solar

The E.D. Edwards Power Station in Illinois faces an uncertain future as its owner, Dynegy-Vistra, seeks state bailouts and relaxed pollution rules. The document argues that retiring the plant would improve public health and save consumers money, while the 206-acre site could be repurposed for a 41-megawatt solar farm and energy storage. However, a significant challenge remains in the form of high-hazard coal ash storage on-site.

• Dynegy-Vistra has pursued two strategies to maintain profitability for its Illinois plants: lobbying the state legislature for a capacity payment bailout that could cost consumers $400 million annually, and attempting to weaken the Illinois Multi-Pollutant Standard to allow dirtier plants to operate more frequently.
• Retiring the eight Dynegy-Vistra coal plants, including the Edwards plant, would not compromise electricity reliability in Illinois and could result in cumulative consumer savings of over $8.2 billion by 2030, with annual climate and health benefits valued at at least $765 million.
• Closing the E.D. Edwards Power Station specifically is estimated to prevent 120 emergency room visits for asthma and 288 premature deaths between 2022 and 2030.
• The E.D. Edwards site contains coal ash storage rated as having high hazard potential; an engineering assessment indicated that a failure of the perimeter containment dike would likely result in human fatalities.
• The 206-acre Edwards site is suitable for a solar farm capable of generating up to 41 megawatts of electricity, which could power nearly 6,000 homes, and could be paired with a 10-megawatt energy storage installation occupying 0.06 percent of the site.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2018). Soot to Solar. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2018/10/Edwards-Case-Study.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. Soot to Solar. 2018. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2018/10/Edwards-Case-Study.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=Soot to Solar |date=October 2018 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2018/10/Edwards-Case-Study.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2018soot, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{Soot to Solar}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2018}, month = oct, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2018/10/Edwards-Case-Study.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }