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Vibhuti Garg
Any knee-jerk reaction that urges more investment in coal completely misses the point
India is teetering on the brink of joining a growing global energy crisis. This burning issue is not only keeping coal power producers, distribution companies, and state governments awake at night, but also the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Power and the Ministry of Coal. Daily analysis of coal stocks is taking place at […]
Seth Feaster
U.S. coal sector is locked into a long-term sectoral decline
Coal prices have surged to the highest level in years in the U.S., and have soared in international markets. These high prices should significantly boost revenues and profits at coal mining companies—a remarkable turnaround from just a year ago, when the world’s pandemic-induced economic swoon sent export prices and demand tumbling. Yet by most measures—including […]
Tom Sanzillo
IEEFA urges using FEMA funds to align with Puerto Rico's and Biden Administration's energy policies
To Whom It May Concern: I am writing to express my concern with the pending use of billions of dollars of FEMA funds for Puerto Rico’s electrical system. Puerto Rico’s plan is bad economic and fiscal policy and makes a mockery of the Biden administration’s climate policy goals of decarbonizing the nation’s electricity sector by […]
David Schlissel
Kemper plant is a cautionary tale of runaway costs and failed promises
Two explosions rocked the Kemper power plant on Saturday as can be seen from footage posted on Twitter. The images dramatize the demise of a “clean coal” project that eventually ballooned in cost from an estimated $3 billion to $7.5 billion. Driven by hubris and greed, and despite repeated warnings about the risks involved in […]
Clark Williams-Derry
Volatility highlights urgency for renewables-based energy solutions
“Energy crisis.” The phrase evokes nearly-forgotten images of gasoline queues in the 1970s, but increasingly describes the spike in global fossil fuel prices. A handful of commenters eagerly lay the blame on renewable energy, which they claim has distracted the world’s attention from investments in oil, gas, and coal production that could have calmed markets. […]
Tim Buckley
Regional leadership up for grabs in the energy transition
The global transition to clean energy has ended its initial phase of incremental growth and is on the brink of transformational change. However imperfect may be the outcomes of November’s United Nations COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, policy, economic and financial forces are now combining to drive the rapid adoption of renewable energy around […]
Tim Buckley
Global finance is aligning with industry leaders
It appears that Reliance Industries’ Mukesh Ambani and Fortescue Metals Group’s Andrew Forrest have drunk the same cool-aid as the Chair of the biggest asset manager in the world, BlackRock’s founder Larry Fink. The richest man in India set his firm towards a net-zero emissions by 2035 pledge in June 2021 while Australia’s Andrew Forest […]
Tim Buckley and Charles Worringham
Recent increase in solar power installations could push coal to peak sooner than expected
If India keeps installing solar capacity at the rate it’s achieved for the last three months, coal-fired power could peak in the 2023-24 financial year, and increased solar generation alone could meet the country’s growing electricity requirements in subsequent years. India’s electricity demand has surged and slumped in recent months as the economy revives in […]
Tom Sanzillo
Puerto Rico government grid rebuild is a bad plan, carried out by poor managers
Many questions were raised at the Oct. 6 U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee hearing on Puerto Rico’s electrical system. The topic: How billions of dollars of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds destined for Puerto Rico’s grid will be spent. Currently, the government of Puerto Rico has earmarked no federal funds for renewable […]
Johanna Bowyer and Guest Contributor: Tristan Edis
Energy Security Board claims Dunkelflaute is a key reason for a capacity mechanism – where is the evidence?
The Energy Security Board (ESB) has cited periods of scarce wind and solar resources as a key reason to implement the contested capacity mechanism, which will see payments from energy consumers to primarily conventional power generators for their capacity to generate electricity, rather than for actually generating electricity. The ESB has claimed the market is […]
IEEFA India: Energy crisis shows coal is an expensive and unreliable source of electricity generation
Any knee-jerk reaction that urges more investment in coal completely misses the point
India is teetering on the brink of joining a growing global energy crisis. This burning issue is not only keeping coal power producers, distribution companies, and state governments awake at night, but also the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Power and the Ministry of Coal. Daily analysis of coal stocks is taking place at […]