Europe forced to burn Coal after Historically Cold Winter and Spring Depleted Gas Supplies

[excalibur]

Germany is backing away from so-called green energy. But they are shuttering or have shuttered their nuclear power plants and are now beholden on coal and Russia.

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European utilities have had to step up coal use as natural gas inventories run unusually low for this time of the year due to the continent’s historically chilly late-winter and spring — once again, it’s coal to the rescue.​

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In 2021, and despite the record-high carbon price in Europe, the use of coal for power generation has jumped by as much as 15%, according to Andy Sommer, head of analysis at Swiss trader Axpo Solutions on Tuesday.​

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“Gas storage is so low now that Europe cannot afford to run extra power generation with the fuel,” he said.​

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According to the analysts, natural gas stockpiles are currently some 25 percent below the five-year average — and as a result, utilities are running more and more coal-fired plants for power generation.​

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Following the harsh winter of 2020-21, Europe was forced to restock its natural gas supplies after the brutal and prolonged chill drained inventories.​

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And then, with spring turning out to be a no-show –with multidecadal cold-records falling in almost every European nation– the continent took the unusual step of taking additional withdrawals from storage.​

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“A cold snap in April caused a counter-seasonal net withdrawal of inventory, worsening the storage situation which for several months has been running below seasonal averages,” Wood Mackenzie said in its Q2 LNG short-term trade and price outlook at the end of May.​

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As a result of the low levels of natural gas, the price of the Dutch TTF gas (the European benchmark) has rallied by over 50 percent so far in 2021, leaving prices at the highest level for late-spring since the 2008 financial crash.​

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With the ultra-tight gas market, power generation from coal is rising sharply across Europe, despite the record-high EU carbon price, which exceeded US$60.50 (50 euro) per ton in May.​

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The current power mix in Europe is indicative of the ridiculous and downright dangerous game the European Union is playing in its callous attempt to ‘green’ its grids in order to tackle the fake ‘climate crisis.’​

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We now live in a perverse reality where failed computer modelling trumps real-world observations, where ‘catastrophic global warming’ makes all the headlines yet behind the scenes entire continents are forced into recommissioning coal-fired plants to keep their citizens alive during season-spanning freezes; and on top of that, ordinary folks have no choice but to pay through the nose for the privilege of heating their own homes due to cruel and absurd carbon taxes.​

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This, it appears, is the grand plan — and it’s working perfectly: fuel poverty is just around the corner for hundreds of millions of everyday people.​

Europe forced to burn Coal after Historically Cold Winter and Spring Depleted Gas Supplies - Electroverse

We now live in a perverse reality where failed computer modelling trumps real-world observations.

electroverse.net

 

[Esdraelon]

Yes, but they feel SOOOO superior...

 

[DGS49]

Germans are generally very smart people. But their actions w/r/t nuclear power have been positively insane. THey have been suffering for years with sky-high energy costs, for no reason other than a neurotic policy decision by Ms. Merkel.

 

[Mac-7]

There is a beautiful musical composition named Concierto d'Aranjuez that was featured in a british film about the closing of a coal mine somewhere in the UK

and about the pain that it caused for the workers who lost their jobs and way of life thanks to the damned greenies

Every time I hear this music I think of them