Solar pushes aside coal as the cheapest fuel for power, IEA says
Solar photovoltaics are now cheaper than plants fired by coal and natural gas in most nations, the Paris-based researchers concludes in its annual report on global energy trends. Those cheaper costs along with government efforts to slash climate-damaging emissions will increasingly push coal off the grid and give renewables 80 per cent of the market for new power generation by 2030, the IEA says.
The findings mark a profound shift away from fossil fuels in the world’s energy supply at a time when governments everywhere are looking for ways to rein in the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. While hydro-electric plants will continue to be the biggest source of renewable power, solar is catching up quickly because the cost of manufacturing and installing panels has come down so much.
Coal’s share of the global power supply is set to fall to 28 per cent in 2030 from 37 per cent in 2019. By 2040, the fuel that once was a staple of utilities will fall below 20 per cent for the first time since the industrial revolution, the IEA concludes. That decline could be even sharper if governments pick up the pace on decarbonization. [Read more]
Bluewaters coal-fired power station written off as worthless as renewables rise
The owners of Australia's newest coal-fired power station have written down the value of the asset to zero, wiping out a $1.2 billion investment in the face of an onslaught of renewable energy.
In what a financial market analyst said was a "classic example" of changes predicted in the energy industry, Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo has written off its $250 million equity stake in the Bluewaters power plant in Western Australia's south-west.
I wonder if this will affect the Coal Mining plans in Alberta?