Spain’s coal-fired electric generation fell to record low 4% of total demand in 2019
Spain’s coal-fired electric generation fell to record low 4% of total demand in 2019 FacebookTwitterLinkedInEmailPrint分享S&P Global Market Intelligence ($):Spanish coal demand for generation slumped to its lowest year on record in 2019, with demand at around a quarter of the previous five years’ average and December recording the first coal-free generation days on record.Total coal-fired output in Spain was 10.8 TWh in the full year, according to data from grid operator Red Electrica de Espana S.A.U., down from an annual average of 40.8 TWh between 2014 and 2018. This meant that coal supplied just 4% of national demand in the year, down from 14% in 2018 and 17% in 2017.For December, coal-fired generation was just 400 GWh, close to all-time minimums recorded in March and August 2019, while five days — Dec. 14, Dec. 21, Dec. 22, Dec. 24 and Dec. 25 — resulted in zero coal-fired generation for the first time ever in Spain.In the coming year, there is likely to be an even sharper reduction as a number of coal plant closure plans were submitted in December, in addition to previously announced closures of plants supplied with domestic coal, which are due to take place at the end of June.On Dec. 27, Endesa SA announced its intention to close two plants that were previously expected to remain operating beyond 2020 — the 1.4-GW As Pontes facility in Corunna and the 1.1-GW unit at Carboneras, Almeria — although it didn’t give a date for either closure. To replace the lost output, the company said it will build 3 GW of renewables — 1.50 GW in Galicia and 1.52 GW in Andalucia — between 2020 and 2026.Spain’s drive to decarbonize its economy has seen it add around 5 GW of new renewable capacity in 2019 while increased LNG supply from the U.S. Gulf Coast and Russia has meant far more competitive gas prices. These two factors have increasingly pushed coal out of the thermal gap in the generating mix, leading to a flip in the position of gas and coal in the merit order. While coal outsupplied gas roughly three to two in 2018, gas has outsupplied coal five to one in 2019, according to Red Electrica data.[Henry Edwardes-Evans, Gianluca Baratti]More ($):Spanish coal generation slumps to record low in 2019