Coal news and updates

A stunning new forecast on “peak fossil fuels for electricity” by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) concludes that “coal and gas will begin their terminal decline in less than a decade.”

It’s been clear for a while that coal demand is plateauing, if it hasn’t already peaked. But BNEF explains that of the “eight massive shifts coming soon to power markets,” #1 is “There Will Be No Golden Age of Gas.”

Here is the core finding of BNEF’s “annual long-term view of how the world’s power markets will evolve in the future,” their New Energy Outlook (NEO):

Cheaper coal and cheaper gas will not derail the transformation and decarbonisation of the world’s power systems. By 2040, zero-emission energy sources will make up 60% of installed capacity. Wind and solar will account for 64% of the 8.6TW [1 Terawatt = 1,000 Gigawatts] of new power generating capacity added worldwide over the next 25 years, and for almost 60% of the $11.4 trillion invested.

These conclusions may come as a surprise to the vast majority of U.S. policy- and opinion-makers, but all the way back in November the International Energy Agency came to a similar conclusion: “Driven by continued policy support, renewables account for half of additional global generation, overtaking coal around 2030 to become the largest power source.”

I’ve been reporting on this trend in my ongoing series “almost everything you know about climate change solutions is probably outdated” (see, for instance, “We Can Stop Searching For The Clean Energy Miracle. It’s Already Here”).

BNEF, however, keeps putting out the most comprehensive, up-to-date, chart-filled, data-driven analyses of the clean energy revolution — and it is all must-read stuff.

Let me single out two charts in particular, an amazing one you’ve probably seen before, and an equally amazing one you probably haven’t.

Source: thinkprogress.