Jean-Paul Harreman takes a look at the future prospects of coal-fired power
Countries across the world are currently trying to make their electricity supplies more environmentally friendly , primarily by producing more power from renewable sources and reducing the amount produced by fossil fuels . However , this has posed some difficult challenges – namely , keeping to planned timelines for ending coal-fired power whilst meeting future electricity demand .
In Britain , this is not so much of a problem . Only around two per cent of this region ’ s electricity output comes from coal and the phasing out of this fuel source looks set to be achieved , as planned , by 2024 . Germany , on the other hand , is facing a much stiffer challenge to cease producing
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coal by 2030 – eight years earlier than originally anticipated . Currently , coal is strongly entrenched in German energy systems so it would need a significant increase in renewable capacity to fill the future demand gap left by declining coal generation and the ongoing decommissioning of nuclear power plants .
For now , we need coal as a baseload supply along with gas
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