Europe sees "significant shift" to gas-fired power in 3rd quarter

But nuclear remains the continent's dominant power source

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The European electricity market saw a significant shift from coal to gas-fired generation in the third quarter of 2019, reversing a trend seen in the previous two years.

The latest report by energy market analyst EnAppSys showed that coal and lignite plants produced 95.8TWh of power in the three months to September 30 – 41% less than the 134.6TWh generated by gas plants. By contrast, coal/lignite produced 31% more power than gas plants in Q3 2018 and 37% more in the corresponding quarter in 2017.

This shift was attributed in part to significant changes in markets in Spain and Germany. In Spain, coal has been pushed almost entirely out the market by gas whilst Germany, traditionally a major consumer of coal and lignite for electricity generation, has seen significant reductions in levels of generation from these sources.

Renewables continued to provide a large share (35%) of overall power generation in Q3 2019 but growth has stalled in recent times, with renewable output declining 2% from levels seen in the corresponding quarters in 2017 and 2018.

Jean-Paul Harreman, director of EnAppSys BV, said: “Generally there has been a significant shift in Europe from coal/ lignite generation to gas-fired generation, although the picture varies depending on individual countries where the degree of change depends on the ability to switch from one power source to the other."

“The Czech Republic, for instance, continues to rely on lignite and coal sources without the same ability to switch as Greece and Italy, where coal and gas plants both compete in the market."

“Meanwhile, in Britain, levels of coal generation have already been reduced, mainly due to higher carbon taxes and the UK government’s drive to meet carbon emissions targets by phasing out coal by 2025."

“The stalled growth of renewables in Europe will be offset by the gains made by switching from coal/lignite to gas, but highlights a market requiring fresh momentum in order to further grow generation levels significantly.”

Overall, nuclear was the dominant power source in Europe in the three months to the end of September 2019, providing 28.7% of total generation. Gas-fired plants provided 20.5%, coal/lignite 14.6%, hydro 14.3%, wind 11.1%, solar 6.0% and biomass 3.4%. Oil (0.7%), waste (0.6%) and peat (0.2%) made up the remainder.

For the full report, please visit the page on the EnAppSys website.

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