EDP could lose more than 400 million euros from coal plants this year
Carbon Tracker Initiative report indicates that 79% of coal-fired plants are no longer profitable and are generating losses for companies.
The energy transition is leading to the closure of coal-fired power stations and the existing ones are becoming less profitable. The Carbon Tracker Initiative annual report concluded that 79% of all units in the European Union (EU) will generate energy losses. Losses for EDP could reach 404 million euros.
“Coal is under deep economic pressure throughout the EU. Based on the Carbon Tracker model, we estimate that 84% of lignite generators and 76% of coal generators are currently operating at a loss and could generate losses of 3.54 billion euros and 3.03 billion euros respectively in 2019,” says the report published this Thursday.
On the one hand, renewable energies such as solar or wind power are cheaper than fossil fuels such as coal. On the other hand, coal is more polluting and the EU countries have made a commitment to decarbonising their economies, leading to the closure of power stations of this type. In this process, the costs of CO2 put pressure on companies to speed up.
According to the Carbon Tracker, the EU country with the highest losses is Germany (‘1,968 million), followed by Spain (‘992 million) and the Czech Republic (‘899 million). For Portugal, the potential losses are considerably smaller: 165 million euros.
Among the companies across Europe, it is the German RWE, the Czech EPH and the British PPC that could have the highest losses of 975 million, 613 million and 596 million respectively. In the case of EDP, the estimated losses are distributed between 125 million euros for the unit in Portugal, which will be discontinued or reconverted by 2025, as well as 279 million euros for Spain, whose target for closure is 2023.