BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct.18
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
In year-on-year comparison the share of renewables in the EU power generation mix decreased slightly in Q2 2021, Trend reports with reference to the European Commission.
Wind, solar, biomass and hydro together represented around 41.5 percent of the EU power mix (down from 43.4 percent in Q2 2020). The share of gas remained practically unchanged year-on-year, and amounted to 18 percent in Q2 20021. The share of power generation from solid fuels rose slightly, from 10.6 percent to 12.5 percent, as coal and lignite-fired generation together rose measurably, by 29 percent in Q2 2021 year-on-year.
Electricity generation from nuclear rose by 11% in Q2 2021 year-on-year, and its share remained close to 25 percent. Carbon prices showed a measurable increase over the course of Q1 2021, rising from 42 €/MtCO2e, to 56€/MtCO2e which, through increasing generation costs, did not contribute either to the competitiveness of fossil fuels in EU power generation. As gas prices rose even more sharply (from 19 €/MWh to 36 €/MWh) in Q2 2021, the profitability of gas-fired generation comparatively decreased vis-à-vis coal and lignite and hence solid fuel generation was up by 29% whereas gas fired generation rose only by 9 percent in Q2 2021, year-on-year.
In Q2 2021, the amount of electricity generated from gas fell in the Netherlands by 14 percent in year-on-year comparison. At the same time, gas-fired generation rose by 23 percent in France, by 21 percent in Italy, and by 8 percent in Spain and Germany. Besides demand side factors, the share of gas was impacted by changes in the local power generation mixes. In the Netherlands, the decrease in gas-fired and nuclear generation was compensated by increasing solar, wind, biomass and hydro, and coal-fired generation also went up. In France, gas-fired generation went up, however, in year-on-year comparison nuclear showed a spectacular increase, whereas wind and solar also rose, in contrast to decreasing hydro. In Italy, gas-fired generation rose significantly, and with the exception of the small increase in biomass, all generation sources saw decreases. In Spain, rise in electricity generation from gas was accompanied by a similar decrease in hydro, whereas nuclear, solar, wind and biomass-fired generation all went up, along with a tiny increase in coal-fired generation. In Germany, increase in gas-fired and nuclear generation was accompanied with a robust upturn in coal and lignite use, whereas renewables did not show too big changes in Q2 2021, year-on-year.
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