![Power production from hard coal, lignite and gas 2010–2016 [source: Agora Energiewende/Sandbag]](http://gastopower.co.uk/media/k2/items/cache/044f5e2581f803ef74e3e67dcc235a32_S.jpg)
European electricity markets have seen the shift from coal generation to gas generation gaining momentum in 2016, with the transition representing one of the biggest trends seen over the year, according to a recent joint study published by UK and German consultancies.
Coal generation fell by 94 TWh (12%) to 694 TWh, reducing its share in the European electricity mix to 21.6% from 24.6%.
Meanwhile, gas generation rose by 101 TWh (20%) to 598 TWh, with its share going from 15.5% to 18.6% across Europe in 2016. This, alone, led to European power sector CO2 emissions falling by 4.5% to 1018 Mt CO2, according to the study Energy Transition in the Power Sector in Europe: State of Affairs in 2016 published by consultancies Agora Energiewende and Sandbag.
This was the second year in a row gas generation in Europe posted increases, after four consecutive years of losses amid increased renewable generation.
However, despite the increase seen in 2015 and 2016, gas generation was still 168 TWh below that in 2010.
“In addition, even after the 12% fall in coal generation in 2016, coal has still suffered less from renewables than gas generation, having fallen 125 TWh since 2010, compared to 168 TWh for gas” the study pointed out.
“It is clear that the opportunity exists for a further shift from coal to gas generation without needing to build any new power stations or upstream infrastructure” it argued.
UK sees half of coal-to-gas switch in 2016
In terms of geography, half of the coal-gas switch happened in the UK, which was due to coal plant closures and the increase in carbon price support, the study explained.
Meanwhile, Spanish coal fell early in 2016 “as hydro levels returned to normal” while “French gas generation increased aggressively in late 2016 because of widespread nuclear outages.”
Germany and Netherlands had “a temporary coal-gas switch because gas became cheaper than coal in August, September and October 2016” it added.
Moreover, Greek gas generation “took market share from lignite because of a lower gas price and the removal of a tax on gas in June, and Italy saw a big change too.”
Overall, the study identified four main reasons for the switch: a quarter was due to closures of 8 GW of old coal plants, mostly in the UK; a quarter was due to permanent coal-gas switching from the UK’s carbon price support; a quarter was from temporary coal-gas switching outside the UK because of low gas prices and a quarter was “from factors related to one-off changes in nuclear and hydro generation 2016.”