The coal industry is finally about to get surpassed by renewable energies. This is something that can no longer wait as the United Nations warned us a few weeks ago, countries are not doing enough to keep the planet’s temperature from rising to the point of near-catastrophic levels.
According to projections from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), the United States coal industry is set to drop by a record 3% in 2019 and will likely be getting more power from solar and wind in 2021, than from coal.
As PJ Deschenes, partner at Greentech Capital Advisors said, “The next piece of the energy transition is very close at hand, Coal is coming offline as fast or faster than we anticipated.”
Between 2000 and 2010 coal provided just about half of the U.S.’s power and hit its peak from 2005 to 2008. However, since 2010 there has been a steady decline and in 2016 natural gas overtook coal according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). In October, the nation’s largest coal provider Murray Energy filed for bankruptcy.
Power companies like Xcel Energy and PSEG that relied on coal, are shifting their focus for carbon-free electricity and switching over to solar and wind farms.
According to the EIA, US power plants are projected to use less coal next year than at any point since 1978. This is expected to drop the coal market share below 22% compared to 28% in 2018.
Many are hopeful that 2021 will be a so-called “crossover year” for the U.S. when renewable energy takes over coal for good.
Dennis Wamsted, editor and analyst at IEEFA, released a report and said: “If the crossover doesn’t occur in 2021, it will without a doubt do so by 2022. Coal and renewables are rapidly heading in opposite directions.”
He goes on to point out that this has already happened in Texas for the first time in the state’s history. In 2003 wind power was responsible for 0.8% of Texas power, in the first half of 2019 wind power accounted for 22% and coal slipped to 21%.
Deschenes from Greentech said he hopes that next, energy storage systems will be shown importance. That will be good news for Tesla, who has successfully built and is adding onto the world’s largest battery at the Hornsdale Power Reserve in Southern Australia.
These changes are good news and necessary if we are to move on from the industrial revolution which may have been good for the economy, but horrible for the planet.
