Electricity production from coal doubled in the past quarter compared to a year earlier. The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reportst that it came out 96 percent higher. On the other hand, production from natural gas decreased by 49 percent.
It is the result of the current situation on the energy market, explains energy transition professor Martien Visser. “Natural gas is currently scarce, the storage facilities are not filled. In addition, Russia does not want to supply extra. The price on the free market then rises and it is cheaper to work with coal. As a result, the coal-fired power stations are running again.”
Visser also points out that CBS compares the data to last year. “Back then, natural gas was dirt cheap and those plants were running full and coal was not running again.” At the same time, he points out that in the long term there is still a decline in the share of coal in energy production. He assumes that the high deployment of coal-fired power stations will remain the same for the time being.
Depending on the market
When asked to what extent this is a temporary situation, a spokesperson for energy company RWE says that this depends on the situation in the market. “That will happen if the gas price starts to fall again or if, for example, new wind farms are added.” RWE has a coal-fired power station in Geertruidenberg. According to the spokesperson, this situation shows that power stations are still necessary if too few sustainable alternatives are available.
Statistics Netherlands also reports that in the third quarter of this year, 31 percent more electricity was produced from so-called renewable sources, compared to a year earlier. This concerns solar (increase of 36 percent), wind (25 percent) and biomass (29 percent). The increase in both solar and wind is mainly caused by more capacity, for example by the offshore wind farm near Borssele, which has been fully operational since the end of last year.
It was announced last week that the coal-fired power plant Onyx Power Plant in Rotterdam will close. The government has signed a deal with the American owner for this, involving more than two hundred million euros.
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