UK Fires-Up Coal Power Plants as European Gas Shortages Worsen
“Englands green and pleasant Land” has been disturbed by the firing-up of a dirty old coal power plant this week, as failing renewables, poor planning, and drastically reduced gas supplies are crippling the nation’s electricity needs.
As the BBC puts it: “still autumn weather has meant wind farms have not generated as much power as normal, while soaring prices have made it too costly to rely on gas.” And as a result, and denting the government’s commitment to completely phase out coal power by 2024, the UK’s National Grid asked EDF to fire-up the West Burton A power plant to cope with demand.
But what demand…? We’re in early September…? The weather is fine, and temperatures are comfortable — the implications for the upcoming winter, which is predicted to be brutal by the way (more on that below), appear dire.
Europe as a whole is in the same boat — the gas supply crunch is now impacting homes and businesses across the continent, with failing renewables boosting the use of fossil fuel-fired generation here, too. This in turn has driven the price of coal up more than 70% this year, and has also sent the cost of polluting in Europe to the highest-ever levels, according to bloomberg.com.
Rising gas prices are also fueling inflation and are threatening to stall economic recoveries as energy-intensive industries from fertilizer to steel may need to curb output. This is a serious concern for the health of the global economy, and it could-well prove the catalyst for the “mother of all crashes” that Michael Burry (of “Big Short” fame) sees coming.