Electricity

Four in five EU coal power plants unprofitable: Greece’s PPC faces EUR 596 million loss, Romania’s CE Oltenia EUR 567 million

Carbon Tracker

Photo: Pixabay

Published

October 28, 2019

Country

Comments

comments icon

0

Share

Published:

October 28, 2019

Country:

Comments:

comments icon

0

Share

Four in five EU coal power plants are unprofitable and utilities could lose EUR 6.6 billion this year alone, finds a new report from financial think-tank Carbon Tracker. Looking at the region, Greek utility PPC could lose EUR 596 million this year, Romanian utilities could lose EUR 567 with CE Oltenia alone facing losses of EUR 479 million. Bulgarian power utilities face EUR 657 million, Croatian companies EUR 21 million, and Slovenian EUR 25 million in losses.

According to the report produced by Carbon Tracker, the most exposed member states are Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic whose coal generators could lose EUR 1.97 billion, EUR 992 million and EUR 899 million, respectively, in 2019.

“The most exposed utilities are RWE, EPH, and PPC who could haemorrhage EUR 975 million, EUR 613 million and EUR 596 million, respectively, in 2019,” the report Apocoalypse now reads.

The most exposed utilities are RWE, EPH, and PPC

The coal plants which remain profitable include those in Poland, which receive relatively high subsidies; efficient units in Germany and the Netherlands; and plants in Italy, the Czech Republic and Slovenia, which benefit from high wholesale power prices.

This year EU hard coal generation has fallen 39% since 2018, resulting in “eye-wateringly low utilization rates” while lignite generation is down 20%. Carbon Tracker estimates that overall 84% of lignite generation and 76% of hard coal generation is unprofitable.

The report warns investors and policymakers to prepare for a complete phase-out of coal across the EU by 2030

The report warns investors and policymakers to prepare for a complete phase-out of coal across the EU by 2030 because without heavy subsidies the industry will not survive sustained competition from ever lower-cost wind and solar power and temporarily cheap gas.

Comments (0)

Be the first one to comment on this article.

Enter Your Comment
Please wait... Please fill in the required fields. There seems to be an error, please refresh the page and try again. Your comment has been sent.

Related Articles

Fortis Energy Gavrilovic developing huge portfolio in SEE

Fortis Energy’s Gavrilović: We are developing huge portfolio in SEE

27 May 2025 - Fortis Energy is working on renewable energy projects of 2 GW altogether in Southeast Europe, of which half is in Serbia

Electrify Europe – to be competitive and sustainable, the EU needs to speed up electrification

Electrify Europe – to be competitive and sustainable, the EU needs to speed up electrification

27 May 2025 - As Europe grapples with sluggish economic growth and soaring energy costs, electrification has emerged as the linchpin for reversing industrial decline, accelerating decarbonisation, and restoring global competitiveness

memo first guarantees of origin esm

North Macedonia issues first guarantees of origin for renewables

27 May 2025 - The first guarantees of origin were awarded to state power utility ESM, for electricity produced from hydropower.

Largest battery storage system in Balkans commissioned in Bulgaria Lovech

Largest battery storage system in Balkans commissioned in Bulgaria

26 May 2025 - A BESS facility of 124.1 MW was inaugurated in Lovech in Bulgaria, next to a photovoltaic park in the local industrial zone