piefed.eeGermany’s Dirtiest Coal-Fired Power Plants Are Back in Profit
www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-21/germ…
A sharp drop in carbon permit prices last week pushed lignite-fired power plants back into profitability for the first time since November, according to analysis from Energy Aspects Ltd. and the London Stock Exchange Group. The plants are now even cheaper to run than gas-fired generators, despite producing far higher carbon emissions.
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MrMakabarEU carbon certificates are at 87€/t right now. That is higher then it was in November. The reason they are profitable are high gas prices in Europe and fairly low wind electricity production right now. All of that is likely to turn worse for coal. As in certificate amounts are lowered each year, gas prices are high due to sanctions on Russia and demand for gas is probably going to fall(besides replacing coal) and renewables are built out and weather changes.
In other words this is temporary.
I haven’t seen full year 2025 data yet, but EU coal and NG use in electricity sector declined over 10% each of ’23 and ’24 years, as electricity consumption rose.
I couldn’t read full archive, but coal being dirtier than imported LNG from US is false even with low, industry reported, methane leakage rates, but the liquification and shipping steps add enough emissions to make it dirtier.
Because wind turbines make you impotent or something. Idk, I am not an energy expert
iirc the processes involved in disposing of the turbines are incredibly bad for the environment and very energy intensive. I would imagine that coal is still dirtier, but I am not as confident when comparing against gas power due to the short lifespan of the blades.
Turbine blades last twenty to thirty years. What short lifespan are referring to?
My mistake, I don’t know where I remember 7-8 years from, maybe an older technology. In any case I am now not sure my supposition about LNG is correct either, I tried to verify, but the US stats got nuked and I couldn’t find anything for other places.
As an aside does anyone know how wind stacks up against fission? It just always has appeared to be the best option for clean energy, or at least until we have fusion.
Danke, Fotzenfritz!
Funny how something not being ‘profitable’ for six weeks becomes newsworthy once it returns to the black.
These coal plants are in their last few years of operation as a stopgap until enough renewable infrastructure is built to replace them. I prefer these things to be used for a bit longer than have more methane power plants constructed. Evidently Germany feels the same given the reduction of 20GW to 10GW capacity over the next six years.