Gavin Maguire of Reuters reports that weak gas prices are primed to trigger a coal-to-gas switch in Germany’s multi-fueled gas and coal-fired plants. Maguire writes:
A more than 25% slump this year in Northwest Europe’s benchmark natural gas price has helped push the price of gas-fired power generation below the cost of coal-fired generation, and sets the stage for fuel switching by key regional power producers.Utilities that operate networks of both gas and coal-fired plants, such as in Europe’s largest economy Germany, are likely to dial up generation from gas plants and cut back output from coal plants in response to the swing in operating costs. […]
But if that rise in industrial power use coincides with a decline in general heating demand, Germany’s power producers should be able to keep overall power output levels largely flat and allow for a more gas-heavy fuel mix to result in a drop in power emissions.And even if recovering industrial power demand forces power generators to lift total output, the higher proportion of gas in the generation mix should help keep total emissions in check.
Read more here.
