A faked kidnapping and cocaine: a Montana mine’s descent into chaos
Ranchers and environmental groups have called for the suspension of Signal Peak Energy’s coal mine in Montana. The groups want an investigation into what they describe as the company’s “destructive and lawless operations,” writes Hiroko Tabuchi in the New York Times.
Coal extraction in Indonesia is driving deforestation
A recently published study found that between 2000 and 2019, Indonesia lost more forest to mining than any other tropical country, with coal extraction the main driver, writes Caroline Bulolo in China Dialogue.
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New UK coal mine would undercut methane pledge, says NGO: Green Alliance, a UK environmental policy think tank, estimates West Cumbria Mining’s proposed Whitehaven coal mine would emit about 17,500 tonnes of methane every year, undercutting the UK government’s commitment to the global methane pledge that requires a 30 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030. The government said that the mine would be carbon neutral but has not detailed how this would be achieved. The Green Alliance said for the mine to be carbon-neutral, even if not accounting for the emissions when burnt, it would require most of the mine’s methane emissions and carbon dioxide to be captured. The group notes the best performing mines rarely capture more than 50 per cent of emissions. Michael Gove, the UK Secretary of State for Levelling Up, granted planning approval for the mine in December. Two groups have launched legal appeals against the decision. (Guardian)
Massive protest against RWE’s demolition of German village: Organisers estimate up to 35,000 people attended a weekend protest against RWE’s expansion of the Garzweiler mine and the demolition of the village of Luzerath. Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg spoke at a rally near the village and was one of the hundreds arrested. In the week leading up to the protest, an estimated 1000 police had moved in to remove protesters occupying the village. The village has subsequently been demolished. The German government has claimed it is essential to expand the mine to supply fuel for adjoining coal plants. However, the German Institute for Economic Research estimated RWE could access coal from other existing mines, albeit at a higher cost. (Politico, Guardian)
HSBC’s secret loan to RWE’s Garzweiler lignite mine: Three months after HSBC pledged to withdraw funding from companies expanding thermal coal production, the bank provided US$340m to RWE, the company expanding the Garzweiler mine in Germany. Before approving the loan, HSBC staff queried the inconsistency with the bank’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 but agreed to lend the funds on the condition that RWE did not publicise the bank’s support. Barclays and Santander, banks committed to aligning their financing activities with the net zero emissions target by 2050, also participated in a consortium of 25 banks that loaned US$4.5 billion to RWE. (Bureau of Investigative Journalism)
Bulgarian parliament votes to backtrack on coal exit schedule: The Bulgarian parliament has voted 187-11 to seek to renegotiate its greenhouse gas emissions reduction target with the European Commission and instead operate its 11 coal plants until 2038. In its April 2022 National Recovery and Resilience Plan, Bulgaria agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent by the end of 2025 compared to 2019 levels. In return, the European Commission approved €5.69 billion (US$6.14 billion) in funding for Bulgaria. A study by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air estimates pollution from Bulgaria’s coal fleet caused 3160 deaths for the 2016-2020 period. The former anti-corruption government led by Prime Minister Kiril Petkov adopted the emissions reduction target. However, The Petkov-led government lost the October 2022 election. The parliament has proposed redirecting the outstanding three-quarters of the European Commission funding away from the transformation of the energy generation sector to household battery storage, improving household energy efficiency performance and grants for individuals and businesses. (Euronews, Seenews)
Report says Turkey could avoid over 100,000 premature deaths: A report by the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) estimates that Turkey would avoid 102,601 premature deaths and cut health costs by up to 3.1 trillion Turkish lira or €194 billion if coal plants were phased out by 2030 rather than operate to 2050. In 2020 Turkey’s annual health spending was €15.5 billion. The report reveals six cities bear the bulk of the health impacts from 21 nearby coal plants, with many having production licences that allow them to operate for decades to come. Turkey’s recently released National Energy Plan for 2035 suggests a possible slight increase in coal capacity over the period. It doesn’t include any commitment to block the commissioning of new coal plants despite a November 2021 announcement of a 2053 net zero emissions target. (Health and Environment Alliance [Pdf])
Recalled UK coal units haven’t been called on to generate power so far: Uniper has decided to keep one of the 500 megawatt (MW) units at its 2000 MW Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal plant online for two years longer than initially planned. The decision follows a move by utilities, grid operators and the UK government to defer coal closures due to the upheaval of the energy market caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The unit was due to close in September 2022 but will now close in September 2024, when the other three units will be retired. EDF, Uniper and Drax have entered into contracts with National Grid to keep coal units available if required during the winter months of 2022/23, but they have not been called on to supply power. EDF, Uniper and Drax agreed to keep units open for backup supply if needed this winter under special winter contingency contracts with National Grid. The grid operator is also considering extending the contingency contracts to cover the 2023/24 winter period. The government said its target is to close all unabated coal plants by the end of 2024. (Daily Telegraph, Guardian)
South African President reveals security risks to Eskom executives: The South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, has revealed senior Eskom executives take extraordinary security precautions as the utility struggles to curb corruption. “I know one manager at Eskom who goes about wearing a bulletproof vest to work, who has two stand-in personal protectors at any given time. His wife also has two protectors, and his children go to school with protectors as well,” Ramaphosa said. Last week it was revealed that the CEO of Eskom, André de Ruyter, had been hospitalised after he drank cyanide-laced coffee at Eskom’s headquarters. Eskom has struggled to investigate and counter corruption in its supply chain. “It’s such a lucrative honeypot that it becomes something where people are not going to readily lose access to their loot,” said Julian Rademeyer from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime. (Times Live, Financial Times)
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Australia: Oakey Coal Action Alliance and Lock the Gate have applied for a review of the decision to grant a water licence to New Hope Corporation for the expansion of the New Acland Stage 3 thermal coal mine.
US: Tennessee Valley Authority revealed that two frozen sensors were responsible for the automatic shutdown of two units at the 2600 MW Cumberland City Fossil Plant in Tennessee.
“It was every company I had to deal with … Where there’s money involved, there’s some graft and corruption taking place,”
said [paywall] an anonymous laboratory analyst said on the issue of falsified Australian coal testing results.
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South African regulator approves big price hikes: The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) has an 18.6 per cent increase in Eskom power prices from April 1 with a further 12.74 per cent increase in 2024. Eskom had applied for a 32 per cent increase based on increased fuel costs, especially diesel, depreciation of its plants and the need to increase purchases from private power generators to offset the impact of outages from its coal fleet. Eskom instituted load shedding on more than 200 days in 2022, with many households hit by cuts for between five and six hours a day. South Africa’s Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said the government would take on part of Eskom’s debt incrementally. (Reuters, National Energy Regulator of South Africa [Pdf])
Tauron seeks damages over faulty new plant: The Polish power utility Tauron is seeking 1.3 billion zloty (US$299 million) in damages and penalty fees from the engineering firm Rafako over continued problems with the recently commissioned 910 MW coal unit at its Jaworzno power plant. The utility says Rafako has not rectified a long list of defects and has 30 days to pay up. The dispute over the new unit began when the boiler, made by Rafako, was damaged during pre-commissioning trials in early 2020. The unit was eventually commissioned in late 2020 but was shut down after recurring problems with the boiler in August 2022. While Tauron blames Rafako for defects in the boiler construction, the engineering company said the use of low-quality coal caused the problems. (Reuters)
Mongolia seeks to rejig basis for export price on coal sales to China: Chinese industry sources have indicated that Mongolia is reportedly seeking to change the pricing formula for coal from the Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi coalfield from February 1. The proposal is to change the price based on the mine-mouth cost to the price at the Chinese border. With the easing of COVID-19 restrictions last year, Mongolian coal exports to China have rebounded, partly due to the completion of new rail links to Chinese border crossings. In September, the rail link between the Tavan Tolgoi coal mine and the Gashuun Sukhait crossing was completed. The rail link has a capacity of about 30 million tonnes annually, providing a lower-cost alternative to reliance on truck transport to the border. The cost of truck transport to the border is estimated at about US$40 per tonne, compared to US$12 per tonne by railway. Mongolia is the largest supplier of metallurgical coal to China. (Global Times)
Japanese utility restarts coal unit after long outage after an earthquake: Soma Kyodo Power, a joint venture between Tohoku Electric Power and Jera, has restarted the 1000 MW No.2 coal unit at its Shinchi plant after it was shut due to technical problems on March 12, 2022 which was extended after an earthquake four days later. The unit resumed operation on January 13. The 1000 MW No.1 unit at the plant was also closed following the earthquake and only resumed operations on November 11, 2022. A dozen coal, oil and gas-fired plants were closed after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake occurred offshore from Fukushima in north-eastern Japan. (Argus)
German hard coal importers push to delay coal phaseout: The German Coal Importers Association (VdKi) – which represents trading companies such as Glencore and Uniper – has called on the government to delay the closure of coal plants and keep them online for the “medium term”. The German government has delayed the closure of several coal plants to allow a short-term increase in coal generation as the power sector transitions away from imports of Russian coal and gas. VdKi said that the German power sector had managed to switch from reliance on imported Russian coal to increase supplies from the US, South Africa and Colombia. Germany imported about 37 million tonnes of coal from Russia in 2021. (Reuters, Coal Importers Association)
Indonesian coal lobby pushes for more subsidies for coal gasification: The Indonesian Mining and Energy Forum (IMEF) is pushing for increased government incentives to promote the use of low-grade coal in coal gasification projects. On December 30, President Joko Widodo signed a regulation that exempts mining companies from paying royalties if they invest in downstream processing operations. Coal gasification projects in South Sumatra and Kalimantan account for seven of the eleven projects identified by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. The Chairman of IMEF, Singgih Widagdo, said the government might need to consider additional incentives including guaranteed market access, investment protection and import duty exemption for coal-to-dimethyl ether (DME) equipment. A 2020 study by the Institute for Economic and Financial Analysis estimated PT Bukit Asam’s proposed coal-to-DME project could result in an annual loss of US$377 million. (Jakarta Post [paywall])
Despite evidence of tampering with coal test results, no prosecutions: The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has revealed that no Australian state or federal agency has specific regulatory oversight of coal quality certification resulting in the investigation into evidence of large-scale alteration of test results largely faltering. Despite ALS, a laboratory services company, voluntarily disclosing thousands of coal export certificates had been altered over 13 years to overstate the quality of the product, no companies have yet been prosecuted. Only one small coal company, TerraCom, is under investigation. One laboratory industry insider told the Australian Financial Review that labs “don’t do it off their own bat.” Independent MP Andrew Wilkie named Anglo American, Peabody Energy, Glencore and Macquarie Group as companies involved in the practice. The coal cargoes were exported to Japan, South Korea, China and India. Anglo American and Peabody Energy rejected Wilkie’s claims. Glencore, the largest exporter of thermal coal, says it hadn’t been involved in any investigations but did not respond to a question on whether it has undertaken any internal inquiries. Wilkie now says that industry insiders “have provided further credible evidence about the widespread nature of the testing frauds” to his office. (Australian Financial Review [paywall])
South Korean utility haunted by high coal and gas costs: The South Korean state-owned power utility Kepco is estimated to have recorded a loss of 30 trillion won (US$24 billion) in 2022 due to the global surge in coal and LNG prices. In 2021 Kepco reported a 6 trillion won loss. On January 1, a 9.5 per cent tariff increase took effect, coming on top of other power price rises in 2022. The South Korean parliament voted in late December to raise the company’s debt ceiling from twice its equity to six times, allowing the utility to increase its borrowing dramatically. The Financial Times reports that Kepco issued US$17 billion in bonds in 2022. Park Chong-hoon from Standard Chartered said the utility’s practice of “making up for losses by issuing bonds is not sustainable.” The financial services firm Moody’s has warned that Kepco’s latest tariff increase is insufficient to cover the recent increase in fuel costs. The Global Coal Plant Tracker estimates Kepco has 34,677 MW of operating coal plants with a further 3282 MW under construction. (Financial Times)
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