Putin dismantles gas supply, Europe forced to reopen coal plants

Movement occurs in markets with idle capacity from coal plants, mainly European countries, which are looking for alternatives to Russian gas

The deal struck between the Russian leader and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will see the gas bypass Poland and Ukraine to Germany. But now Putin is turning the screw in Berlin, hoping to prevent them from implementing system-wide EU legislation.. While the UK is not a direct target of the Kremlin's restriction, the country has now been forced to use coal-fired power plants to power itself up again.

Despite having proven data from the International Energy Agency that coal plants are one of the most polluting sources of energy, at the moment, it is being the best option since natural gas prices are much more expensive than normal. According to the agency, this year the price of gas increased 4 times compared to 2021, while coal had a reduced increase of 3 times.

European countries have a more alternative production style than other regions of the world, in addition to the capacity of plants that are not in use, which makes investment and energy generation possible. 

Coal-fired plants become alternatives to Russian gas

The Agency predicts that with the drop in electricity demand, the use of coal will rapidly increase and become a frequent use nowadays. In percentage, the increase should be 2,4% in addition to the 6% that had already occurred last year.

In contrast, a Think Tank analysis points out that the impact on climate events would only be limited if coal was used in reserve mode. 

Natural gas is extracted from Russia and afraid of what could happen after the invasion of Ukraine, some countries such as Germany, Austria, France and Holland changed their production policy and implemented new plans that increase energy production through power plants coal. In this way, even if the war had some impact on the energy supply, the countries around it would not be harmed. 

“Europe finds itself in this urgent situation due to past mistakes in energy policy. Despite numerous warning signs, EU member states ignore the risks of over-reliance on imported gas and have neglected the need to quickly replace it with domestic renewable energy.”, says Sarah Brown, senior energy and climate analyst at Ember. 

For all this to happen, Ember performed some calculations. The data show that in 2023, the emission of CO² would be 30 million tons, equivalent to 1,3% of the total CO².

Last week, there was a request, by the European Commission, for gas expenses to be reduced among all states that are part of the European Union. At first, the action is voluntary but it may become mandatory from now on as the goal is to reduce by up to 15%, equivalent to 45 billion cubic meters by March 2023.

Brazil wants to reach 15 GW of renewable energy by the end of the year

Variations in demand for each energy are still present. The IEA (International Energy Agency) presented very different data. While renewable energy sources are expected to increase their presence by 10%, low-carbon generated energy will also increase by 7% and nuclear energy will see a 3% decline. 

“While electricity demand is expected to continue on a similar growth path into 2023, the outlook is clouded by economic turmoil and uncertainty over how fuel prices may affect the generation mix”, scores. 

In Brazil, the goal is to reach 15 GW by the end of the year, but for now, the peak was 11 GW generated by photovoltaic panels. The distributed generation valuation calculations were made official by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), in accordance with Law 14.300/2022, which withdraws the contribution when dealing with own production. 

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