Given that the percentage of coal in the British energy mix fell
to zero percent during the two month lockdown, does the COVID 19 pandemic spell
the death knell for coal fired power plants?
By: Ringo Bones
As of April 10, 2020, the share of coal in Britain’s
electrical mix fell to 0-percent according to data from Drax, an electrical
power generation company, after the island’s coal fired power plants were shut
down in response to lower demand for electricity. It was once thought that
people staying at home and using more electricity would mean an overall demand
across the country, but it didn’t turn out that way. It seems that commercial
and industrial customers use electricity magnitudes more that folks staying at
home plugged in on the internet.And Britain is now off coal for two months and
counting.
Power generating companies say that the cost of setting up
wind turbines and solar are now at a tipping point that they are now making a
better fiscal sense than good old coal. In Australia, an aging coal fired power
plant was demolished – Hazelwood Power Station in Victoria - because wind and
solar are now more cost effective. And private investments going into coal
fired power plants are only growing in Mainland China and India. Could the COVID
19 lockdown be the best thing that ever happened to our environment?
