Coal will die

Coal has been the mainstay of power generation in almost all major countries such as USA, India and China. Hundreds of gigawatts of thermal power are installed in almost all regions in the world and provide the bulk of modern power generation. However, recent technology changes and increasing concerns over climate change make the death of King Coal inevitable. Though some developing countries such as India are still building new coal powered plants, most developed nations have started to phase out these highly polluting power plants. Pollution costs have increased the thermal power costs while rapidly declining solar and wind energy prices have made them almost equal to coal in a number of regions. This has sharply decreased the attractiveness of coal as a cheap power source, since it is possible to buy wind and solar power for as low as 3 cents/kWh.

Also read The Fate of Solar Industry Amidst Falling Panel Prices, Overcapacity in China and Trump led America

Canada has become the first country to say that it will completely phase out coal powered generation by 2030, being the first major nation to do so. While coal for steel and industries will still be mined, the major user will be gone for coal. Even other countries such as Germany and others are mothballing their thermal power plants or using it just for balancing purposes as gas and other energy sources have become extremely cheap. In USA, the shale gas revolution has led to the bankruptcies of numerous coal miners. Despite the Trump win, the technology change is weighed against the coal industry which faces a certain death going forward.

Coal has been a big issue due to its highly polluting nature and causes thousands of deaths both directly and indirectly. But due to its extremely cheap costs, coal has remained a dominant part of the energy industry. However, things are changing for the negative. The Stone industry did not end due to a paucity of stone and the coal age will also not end due to the unavailability of coal. It will end much before.

As per coalswarm, 750 GW of coal projects have been cancelled worldwide in the last 5 years with 150 GW cancelled this year alone. China has cancelled most of these coal powered plants as the country not only faces a slowdown in electricity demand, but also protests from citizens about degradation in air and water quality due to high levels of industrial pollution.

 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is speeding up Canada’s planned elimination of traditional coal-fired power plants, doubling down on green pledges as its top trading partner moves in the opposite direction.

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said Monday the country would phase out traditional coal power by 2030, an acceleration of existing measures that the government says affects four facilities in Canada not already facing retrofit or shutdown by then. They include two facilities in Nova Scotia-owned Nova Scotia Power, an Emera Inc. subsidiary, and one each in Saskatchewan and New Brunswick owned by provincial crown corporations.

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