Rising energy costs are increasingly dominating political agendas in many countries around the world both developed and developing. The U.S. shale revolution with domestic cheap natural gas has started to bite into coal’s U.S. power generation market share, which can be attributed to the coal-to-gas switch of power utilities. Note, that any change in U.S.… Keep reading →
Germany is facing an energy paradox where significant increases in renewably-generated power – mostly from wind and solar – are being surpassed by increases in coal-fired power. Part of the reason stems from the country’s decision to phase out its nuclear fleet. A majority of the nuclear generation capacity that has come offline – 8… Keep reading →
In the United States, coal is facing hard times. The welcome, though unexpected expansion of unconventional natural gas resources and production in North America has made natural gas the economically attractive fuel choice for new electricity generating power plants and, in many cases, has replaced older existing coal fired plants. From 2003 to 2013 coal’s… Keep reading →
The investment banking community recently picked up on this trend and the EIA’s latest Today In Energy post details greater coal use in the US power sector compared with last year. Although power generators’ fuel portfolios vary by region, at the national level, higher 2013 natural gas prices relative to coal prices motivate utilities to… Keep reading →
Analysts at brokerage Sterne Agee find coal stocks moving upward based on several supporting factors including US natural gas/coal pricing dynamics, Chinese industrial data, European economic improvement and a bounce in emerging market currencies relative to the dollar. While overall US power generation is down year-on-year, more coal than natural gas was burned to generate… Keep reading →
