Electricity generation from coal power stations across Europe fell by nearly a fifth over the first half of this year, the steepest decline ever recorded.
The sudden drop, driven by buoyant carbon prices and new installations of wind and solar farms, has led campaigners to say that 2019 may mark the beginning of the end for coal in Europe. Around half of the coal was replaced by gas plants and the rest by renewables, according to an analysis by the London and Brussels-based think tank Sandbag.
The dramatic switch away from coal, the most carbon intensive fossil fuel, will lead EU greenhouse gas emissions to fall by 1.5 per cent if the trend continues this year.
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Coal power in Europe has already been falling for several years and provided less than a fifth of electricity supplies last year. But the move away from coal has accelerated this year, partly due to relatively low gas prices and a high ,聽which has climbed from 鈧�5 a tonne two years ago to 鈧�29 today.
鈥淧eople have been slow to pick up on how big and aggressive this [switch] is,鈥� says Dave Jones of Sandbag, who compiled the figures with data from EU energy network operators. The switch from coal to gas is a largely one-off phenomenon because there aren鈥檛 many new gas plants being built, Jones points out, whereas the move to renewables can continue year after year.
Those countries that installed the most wind and solar capacity saw the biggest drops in coal, with generation dropping 79 per cent in Ireland, 44 per cent in Spain and 28 per cent in Italy.聽Coal-reliant Germany recorded the biggest fall in absolute terms, with a 22 per cent decrease.
In the UK, coal power generation dropped 65 per cent and the country has experienced several long coal-free runs, including a spell of nearly three weeks in late May and early June. Ministers . The declines were far smaller in Eastern Europe, such as Poland with a 6 per cent drop, where countries are adding much less new wind and solar power.
Sandbag鈥檚 analysis concludes that, looking at carbon prices, power prices and fixed running costs, most European coal plants burning lignite, the dirtiest form of coal, are now running at a loss. 鈥淭he profitability of the coal plants has collapsed,鈥� says Jones. But few coal power stations are shutting entirely yet 鈥� only 3 per cent of plants closed last year, the biggest of which was , UK.
