Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumMoody's - Coal Earnings Will Fall 50% Or More In 2020, Collapse In Production & Use Will Last Years
Coal industry earnings in North America could fall by more than 50% this year as coronavirus lockdowns slash electricity demand, according to one financial research company.
Moody's Investors Service said in a report released Sunday that coal production is set to fall by more than 25% in 2020 and the pandemic's impact to coal miners may be more severe than what the U.S. government forecasts. Declines will be steepest in 2020 but could continue for years, said Benjamin Nelson, lead global coal analyst at Moody's and the report's lead author. "We think that it's going to be a long-term trend," Nelson said.
Although the pandemic is accelerating coal's decline, production and use of the fossil fuel has been trending down for years in North America due to the falling costs of renewable energy and natural gas and growing concerns about coal's climate change impacts. So far this year, electricity companies have said they will shut down 13 coal-fired power plants and convert two other plants to natural gas (Climatewire, May 27).
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in a report last week that it expects coal production to fall by about 24% this year. Amid the pandemic, major coal companies have also laid off workers (Greenwire, May 22). But contrary to the EIA's findings, the Moody's report does not expect coal to rebound significantly in 2021. While an increase in the cost of natural gas could have given coal a chance to bounce back, the company predicts natural gas prices will stay low.
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https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2020/06/03/stories/1063303509
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)demise of the Coal industry in real time. Here in the South West,as each one of our Coal Fired Plants were shut down,the first noticable thing that happens is,nature takes over the cleansing process. After two years our Vegas Valley air quality has improved significantly,still way to many cars because of poor Public Policy in improving Public Transportation and we have way way to much Auto Exhaust pollution. But,you can see the Mountains every day. When you go to the Grand Canyon,you can see the other side and the real Beauty of the Rock Formations.
BTW,one of the world's largest Solar Fields is now being built south of Vegas. This new Field is expected to replace another three or four Coal Burners in Arizona and Utah. Nevada's only remaining Coal plant is supposed to be included as well.