Global

Germany needs to double its renewable energy output –grids

Germany may need to double its renewable energy capacity by 2035 as Europe's biggest economy goes electric in heating, transport and other sectors, grid operators said. Presenting their capacity planning through to 2035, the four high voltage transmission grid firms (TSOs) said that Germany will need to have renewable power capacity of between 233 and 261 gigawatts (GW) by 2035, compared with just under 130 GW recently forecast for end-2021. "The rising share of renewable energies in power production is the central driver of network development," they said, adding that all the scenarios they had discussed assumed increasing power demand and Germany becoming a net importer. Germany needs to meet a target of renewable energy contributing at least 65 per cent of power output in 2030 as part of the country's overall goal to cut CO2 emissions by at least 55 per cent compared with 1990 levels. Green power could provide between 70 per cent an 74 per cent of the total by 2035, led by more wind power generation especially from offshore parks, the TSOs said. Photovoltaic capacity would also increase strongly. Meanwhile, German is planning to close its nuclear plants by 2022 and coal power stations by 2038 in its decarbonisation drive, which will require grid extensions to connect the industrial south with more wind power farms in the north.

Richards Bay Coal Terminal sees coal exports decline in 2020 for third straight year

South Africa’s Richards Bay Coal Terminal exported 70.2 million mt of coal in 2020, down 2 million mt on the year, a third straight year of declines, the terminal announced Jan. 28. Despite the decline in volume, which could somewhat be excused owing to the significant drop in seaborne demand following the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the terminal – which handles roughly 95% of all South African coal exports – said it would keep its export target for 2021 at 77 million mt, 500,000 mt higher than the record set in 2017. The reasoning behind this optimism could likely be the strong demand for South African coal exhibited by Asian Markets. Asia accounted for the vast majority of exports from the terminal last year, at around 92%. In Asia, India is by some margin the largest single market for South African coal, taking roughly half of all exports, while Pakistan is also a major export destination for South African coal. While these two key markets will likely remain the biggest buyers of coal leaving the terminal in 2021, the terminal did make not of a more recent development where coal leaving the terminal had been sold to China.

. Japan’s coking coal imports rise in December

Japan's coking coal imports rose in December to an eight-month high on increased shipments from Indonesia, underpinned by the strong recovery of Japan's steel industry. Japan imported 5.63mn t of coking coal in December, up by 1pc from November but down by 10pc from a year earlier, according to finance ministry data. January-December imports fell by 9pc from a year earlier to 63.3mn t. Shipments from the largest supplier Australia fell by 5pc to 2.84mn t in December from 3mn t last month but increased by 13pc from a year earlier. Arrivals from Indonesia surged to 1.64mn t in December, an increase of 71pc from the previous month and by 5pc from a year earlier, as Japanese steel producers sought to diversify their coking coal import sources to minimise risk exposure. December crude steel output also continued to increase as steel demand from the car industry recovered, despite continuing pressure from the country's Covid-19 emergency measures. Japan's metallurgical coke imports hit an 18-month high of 119,412t in December, the largest monthly intake since July 2019 with 140,307t. The December imports were an increase of 261pc from the previous month and 255pc from a year earlier. Almost all of Japan's met coke imports came from China.

Trump’s promise to put coal miners back to work was a failure

In 2016, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made a promise to coal miners at a rally in West Virginia. “For those miners, get ready because you’re going to be working your asses off,” he told them, wearing a white hard hat. “We’ll be winning, winning, winning.” After four years of the Trump administration, coal has been losing, losing, losing. Not that Trump can take the blame (or the credit). Dismal economics have been inexorably displacing coal as the fuel of choice in the US and around the world. But, the data tell a different story. The number of people employed by the coal mining industry has fallen 15% since Trump took office in January 2017. Despite job losses that temporarily stabilized during his years in office, according to US Bureau of Labor Statistics Data, the trend is continuing. Production has followed suit. Despite coal prices remaining stable around $35 per ton over the last decade, production fell during Trump’s years in office to just 706 million short tons, the lowest amount since 1978, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Coal still generates 38% of global electricity,

the largest share of any fuel. But that is falling in many countries as the price of solar, wind, and natural gas dips below coal, cutting into the industry’s profits. During the first half of 2020, global coal capacity fell for the first time since at least the 1950s, reports the nonprofit Global Energy Monitor.

Australia’s Whitehaven Coal sees recovery in prices, sales in 2021

Australia’s Whitehaven Coal forecast a rebound in coal prices and sales volume in 2021, as the miner posted a 29% jump in quarterly output boosted by a recovery in key Asian economies. The company said the improved pricing environment reflects increased demand for thermal coal as economies recover from the pandemic’s hit and supply cuts. “During the latter part of the December quarter there was a strong rebound in pricing and we are increasingly optimistic that underlying market dynamics are supportive of continued improvement in this area,” said Paul Flynn, chief executive officer. The company tightened its full-year managed coal sales forecast to a range of 19 mt to 20 mt from prior expectations of 18.5 mt to 20 mt and said it expects sales volumes in 2021 to return to pre-COVID-19 levels. The country’s biggest independent coal miner’s managed saleable coal production for the December quarter was 3.9 million tonnes (mt), up from 3.1 mt a year ago. Source: Reuters (Reporting by ShrutiSonal and Arundhati Dutta in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)

German hard coal imports set to continue steep decline in 2021 - industry group

Last year's sharp drop in Germany's hard coal imports is set to continue this year as the country has started to phase out the fossil fuel, the country's coal importer association VDKi has said. Imports will drop by 19 percent to around 27 million tonnes, the lobby group predicted. Imports for power generation will even fall by 27 percent to 15.5 million tonnes, while imports for steelmaking will only show a minor decline, the group said. Hard coal-fired power generation fell 26 percent in 2020 to a third of the 2015 volume. The association criticised the design of Germany's tenders for the withdrawal of coal generation capacity in the framework of its coal exit, because not the oldest power plants are taken offline first as a result but the youngest and most modern ones. Last year, renewables produced more power than all fossil fuels combined in Germany for the first time. In combination with record-low energy consumption due to the coronavirus pandemic, higher CO and lower gas prices, plus a mild winter, this has led to a 10 percent decrease in emissions. According to the think tank Agora Energiewende. Germany has decided to exit coal by 2038 at the very latest. Following its first phase-out auction for hard coal, plants commissioned as recently as 2015 were taken off the grid at the end of the year, illustrating the difficult economic conditions faced by operators.

Indonesia to revise royalty rates on coal, gold in bid to boost revenue

Indonesia plans to adjust its royalty payment policies on sales of gold and coal in an effort to boost state revenues as prices of the two commodities recover, an official said. The world’s top exporter of thermal coal expects a recovery in prices and exports this year after scoring a $1.5-billion trade deal with China. Home to the world’s biggest gold mine, Indonesia also ranks among the top producers of the precious metal, benefiting from a price rally last year.

Turkish coal burn to remain firm in 1Q

Turkish coal-fired power output is likely to remain firm in the first quarter as coal units have extended their price advantage against gasfired plants. Output from the country's 8.9GW coal-fired fleet almost reached technical capacity at some points in 2020, with utilisation rates surpassing 90pc for extended periods, boosted by firm power demand and strong fundamentals for coal burn. And power-sector coal demand is also likely to remain strong in the coming months amid rising costs for gas-fired plants. State-owned gas distribution company Botas has slightly increased its tariff for power utilities to 1,414 lira/'000m³ ($18.04/MWh) in January, from TL1,400/'000m³ in December, widening coal's cost advantage against gas. This was the first increase in the monthly gas tariff since July 2019, and is in line with higher first-quarter import costs for Botas. The firm's import costs from Russia and Iran will fall by 32¢/MWh to $16.07/MWh and by 58¢/MWh to $15.45/MWh, respectively, but overall costs are set to increase because of a rise in prices for Azeri gas to $16.92/MWh, from $15.32/MWh in the fourth quarter, according to Argus calculations (see chart).

UK Government gives new coal mine the go ahead

Secretary of State Robert Jenrick has given the go-ahead to a controversial new coal mine in Cumbria. The mine, which will be situated in Whitehaven, West Cumbria will remove coking coal from beneath the Irish Sea for the production of steel in Europe and the UK. Cumbria County Council approved the £165m mine in October, but the government could have called in plans for an inquiry, however, they have chosen not to. In September 2020, Robert Jenrick rejected plans for an opencast coal mine at Druridge Bay in Northumberland, saving there is ‘limited objective evidence that the demand for coal for industrial purposes will remain at current levels beyond the very short term.’ Campaigners hoped that a similar decision would be made over the Cumbrian coal mine. Friends of the Earth coal campaigner Tony Bosworth said: ‘Mr Jenrick’s refusal to ‘call-in’ this unnecessary and climate-wrecking coal mine shows jaw-dropping inconsistency. UK government won’t block first deep coal mine in three decades

Despite pressure from green groups, the UK Government has said it will not intervene in a county council’s decision to approve a deep coal mine – the first facility of its kind to gain planning approval in 30 years, reports EURACTIV’s media partner, edie.net.Cumbria County Council approved plans put forward by West Cumbria Mining (WCM) late last year, but was told that the Government had the right to call in the decision under planning laws. In a statement (6 January), the local authority said it had received confirmation from Whitehall that this course of action would not be taken. Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick reportedly sent a letter to councillors stating that the Government is “committed to giving more power to councils to make their own decisions on planning issues”. He wrote that he was “content that [the application for the coal mine] should be determined by the local planning authority”. West Cumbria Mining claims that the mine will be able to open 24 months after construction begins. It hopes to extract 2.5 million tonnes of coal from the undersea mine every year, for use in the UK and European steel industry. The coal will not be used to generate electricity, given that coal-powered electricity generation must be brought offline by 2024.