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Coal-Fired Power Plants, Today the Most Polluting Energy Source on the Planet, Are Losing Space to Wind and Solar Energy
A recent study showed that the costs of coal-fired power plants are already higher than the costs to generate solar and wind energy. The growth in the use of renewable energies is directly linked to the drop in technology costs in the sector. Coal is identified as the major villain of the environment.
A study by Energy Innovation highlighted that due to the total costs of coal-fired power plants, such as equipment maintenance and other overheads, it is already cheaper to build a solar or wind power plant than to maintain a coal-fired plant.
Less Efficient and More Expensive
The new study conducted in 2021 contradicts a study by Energy Innovation in 2019. At that time, they were predicting that 3/4 of all coal power plants would be too expensive to sustain by 2025. However, that number was reached years earlier than expected. This proves that coal is rapidly losing ground quickly to renewable energies, more than initially predicted by the Energy study.
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The study showed that 72% of coal power plants in the U.S. are more expensive to operate at full steam than to build new solar or wind plants. The reports include data on the health of the companies, as well as the impacts of climatic emissions in the U.S.
The report concluded something that is already known to everyone: coal is expensive, polluting, and will definitely be used less in the coming decades. The study also highlighted that, in the future, it will be possible to completely eliminate coal plants to make way for fossil fuel power plants.
Coal Will Lose Ground in the Future
This news that coal is becoming more expensive compared to other forms of energy generation was noticed by the largest coal miners’ union in the United States, the United Mine Workers of America, in 2019. The union highlighted the need to make an energy transition towards more renewable and environmentally friendly energy sources.
Countries Begin to Cut Coal-Fired Energy
Last year, Japan, Germany, and Spain announced the closure of coal-fired power plants. Highly polluting and much less efficient than other forms of energy generation, the industry of the sector must be reduced, or even completely eliminated in the near future.
With the forecast for solar and electrical energy to become even cheaper in the coming decades, the use of coal is increasingly becoming more expensive. In addition, the whole world is working to reduce carbon emissions, something that will certainly further weaken the market.
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