The EU will likely import a lot less coal this year, a report predicts, after Australian exporters were among those posting a bumper 2022.
| Europe is sitting on a massive stockpile of coal it looks unlikely to need, according to a new report that predicts the EU’s coal imports could fall back sharply this year.
Ember said that although the EU had resuscitated 26 back-up coal-powered generation units, to be used as emergency standby to meet electricity shortfalls, these had run at only 18 per cent average utilisation in the fourth quarter of last year. Nine of the 26 were not fired up at all.Coal power generation was 6 per cent lower in the fourth quarter than in the same months of 2021.
But Ember said this was likely to fall back in 2023, as hydropower would recover from the worst drought in 500 years, and suspended French nuclear power stations would come back online. On the renewables side, Germany, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands and France were the countries making the largest additions to their solar generating capacity.
Overall electricity demand in the EU dropped 7.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year from the corresponding three months of 2021, not far short of the 10 per cent fall during the sharpest COVID lockdown in mid-2020.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
ASX ends unchanged, but January gains erase 2022 lossesShares closed little changed on Tuesday as the benchmark index ended the month up 6.3 per cent, entirely recouping last’s year losses. Tech stocks came under pressure.
Read more »
ASX ends unchanged, but January gains erase 2022 lossesShares closed little changed on Tuesday as the benchmark index ended the month up 6.3 per cent, entirely recouping last’s year losses. Tech stocks came under pressure.
Read more »
Australians rooftop solar installations slow in 2022Rooftop solar has contracted, but solar farms have kept Australia on record solar growth.
Read more »
New requirement for streaming services to show and make Australian content is ‘positive’Former Labor Senator Stephen Conroy says the new requirement for streaming services to show and make Australian content is “positive” for Australian culture. “I think that’s a positive thing,” he told Sky News host Andrew Bolt. “That levels the playing field and it ensures that Australian stories and Australian culture has a place going forwards. “So I have absolutely no difficulty with that.”
Read more »
Drop in retail sales unlikely to stop February rate riseDecember retail sales fell 3.9 per cent month-on-month according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the first drop in sales in 2022.
Read more »
Venture capital investors warn of pain ahead for start-upsNew data from KPMG and Techboard suggest Australian start-ups fared better than their global counterparts in 2022, but no one is expecting a market bounce back in 2023.
Read more »