Coal news and updates

Coal remains power generator king through 2035: IEA

The International Energy Agency tweeted this chart about electricity trends to 2035.

Not that surprisingly, it shows renewables and natural gas really taking off, with renewables surpassing natural gas as source of power over the next couple of years. By 2035, renewables will be giving coal a run for the money.

What surprised us, however, was the coal’s durability. It will remain the top fuel for generating electricity for the next 20 years, with growth in coal-fired power in emerging markets outweighing its decline in rich countries, the IEA said.

As the IEA’s page about coal reminds us, “coal use has never stopped increasing and the forecasts indicate that, unless a dramatic policy action occurs, this trend will continue in the future.”

Greater efforts by governments and industry are needed “to embrace cleaner and more efficient technologies to ensure that coal becomes a much cleaner source of energy,” it added.

In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed strict limits on carbon emissions for new power plants, effectively killing off construction of new coal-fired power plants.

Meanwhile, competition with cheaper natural gas has already rendered new coal-fired plants an economic Waterloo.

The EPA has a year to suggest similar curbs for existing coal-fired power plants.

Source: MarketWatch