The lack of gas allows Europe to "restart coal power", but the coal is tense again

[Global Times special reporter in Germany Aoi Zhenxiang] "France formulated a route for restarting the burning coal power plant", German Press said on the 26th that the French Ministry of Energy announced on Sunday that in view of the energy crisis caused by the Russian -Ukraine conflict, France was preparing to restart restart. Coal -fired power plant located in San Adivard. The power plant just "laid off" at the end of March. Within a few weeks before closing, the power plant has been burning coal at full speed to meet its power needs. The Austrian government also decided last week to cooperate with the country's largest power supplier Victorian company to restart the Merah waste coal power plant to cope with the energy shortage caused by the reduction of Russian natural gas supply. This coal power plant is the last coal power plant in Austria and was shut down in the spring of 2020. The Austrian government has proposed to fully achieve clean energy supply by 2030. 80%of Austrian natural gas imported from Russia.

The Dutch Climate and Energy Minister Rob Jezon also announced last week that, in view of the increase in natural gas shortage risk, the Dutch government decided to lift the restrictions on coal -fired power generation from 2022 to 2024, and coal -fired power plants will be allowed to operate at a full load again. For environmental factors, the Netherlands had previously controlled 35%of the total electricity of coal power. 15%of the Dutch natural gas supply comes from Russia.

"Back to the era of coal", the German "Times Weekly" reported that the German Federal Economic Affairs and Climate Operations asked the people and enterprises to save natural gas. Clling power plants can start power generation again at "foreseeable time". Hard coal power plants can also do this. The current contribution of natural gas to Germany's power supply is about 15%. The German government hopes to retain coal -fired power plants that have been closed or about to be closed. In 2019, the German government announced its strategy of eliminating coal power and will end coal power at the end of 2038. Statistics show that nearly 1/3 of Germany's electricity is from coal.

Statistics released by the German Federal Bureau of Statistics, from January to April 2022, German coal imports cumulatively 12.9877 million tons, an increase of 25.3%year-on-year. Germany will also import 150 million tons of coal from Indonesia. The latest polls of German TVs show that 56%of participants say they support more use of coal -fired power plants. This position is the majority of people over the age of 50. 36%of people oppose this approach.

The S & P global rating website has recently reported that the ban on the implementation of Russian power coal in Europe has led to Europe's demand for coal overflowing to other markets such as South Africa, Australia and even Indonesia. Reuters had previously quoted the Indonesian Coal Mine Association Executive Director Hendra Sinadia that the European market mainly needed medium and high -level coal, and most Indonesian miners produced lower -level coal. A few miners who may have space expanded output will need government approval to increase production and exports.

The S & P Global Rating said that Indonesian coal mine companies have stated that the supply capacity outside of existing contract obligations is limited. A energy producer headquartered in Indonesia said that there is a huge gap between the quality of coal that European buyers expect from the coal grade produced by Indonesia, and suppliers close to European requirements may have promised Northeast Asian buyers. These Buyers are their traditional customers. After the ban on Russia's coal in Europe, the prices of all major producers are high, and Indonesian coal is the cheapest choice at present. Although Indonesia's coal specifications are not enough, Europe is still seeking a lot of imports.

According to S & P global data, since the beginning of the Russian -Ukraine conflict, the price of coal of Indonesia has risen from US $ 79.05/metric ton on February 24 to $ 85.95/metric tons on June 21. During the same period, the price of South African coal rose from $ 231.9/metric ton to $ 290.60/metric ton, while Australian coal prices rose from $ 159.25/metric ton to US $ 174.75/metric tons.

Reuters reports that as of April 2022, Australian coal merchants have been at the upper limit of output, and it is unlikely to meet the additional supply in Europe. Miners cannot expand their output in the short term because they face strict regulatory obstacles of new mines. Local community people and farmers oppose the construction of new mines in the construction of miners. Some miners also face capital restrictions. Most of Australian miners are bundled with the contracts of existing customers.