> It looked at 6,696 operational plants and 1,046 in the pipeline and found that 46% will be unprofitable this year, up from 41% in 2019 I thought this is due to Covid-19 but apparently it's a chronic trend. > That will rise to 52% by 2030 as renewables and cheaper gas outcompete coal, the think tank said. A very slow one too.
A lot of coal plants in developed countries are closing. The least efficient ones are most likely to close. That should tend to make the % unprofitable fall, but it's rising instead.
I met someone some years back who's job was to keep a coal power plant operational. The boiler was from the 1880s, and the generator installed in the 1920s. They don't use the generator as regular mains power costs 5 times less due to the efficiency of modern technology. However the utility gives them a large enough discount on power to keep it running that he had a job and can repair it as needed. Once every 5 years or so the utility calls him to turn it on and 12 hours later it is providing power to half the town.
I believe anicdotes like that are somewhat common as the utilities want to be sure there is always power when someone wants it.