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Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe (2025)

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Re: Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe (2025)

#441

Post by eloisant »

pocksuppet wrote: post #397
selfmodruntime wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Way to high compared to actual cost. Almost half of fuel and electricity costs in Germany is tax.

If it's due to tax it can't be used to advocate the pros or cons of market arrangements, since we don't know what the market would be doing in the absence of the tax.

It's because of the rules of the European Energy Market where all electricity has to be as expensive as the most expensive source.

So as soon as Germany lights up their gas powerplants, that follow gas prices (wars, etc), French nuclear electricity has to be sold for the same price.

Re: Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe (2025)

#442

Post by amai »

interludead wrote: post #365

A lot of these plants were built in the 70s-90s and were expected to run 40–50 years. Instead many are shutting early because renewables plus carbon pricing have simply made them uneconomical

It is 2026 now. So thats 56 - 36 years from 1970-90. So it is not really a lot earlier than expected.

Re: Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe (2025)

#443

Post by Nemo_bis »

moominpapa wrote: post #411
Nemo_bis wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, > The new analysis for Carbon Brief shows that electricity generation from coal in India fell by 3.0% year-on-year (46 terawatt hours, TWh) and in China by 1.6% (90TWh). https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-coal-power-drops-in-chi...

At 1.6% per year, how long until China closes its last power station do you think?

'How did you go bankrupt?' Bill asked. 'Two ways,' the coal baron said. 'Gradually and then suddenly.'

Re: Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe (2025)

#445

Post by decimalenough »

dionian wrote: post #291
Peanuts99 wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're also closing down coal plants faster than anyone else and actually faster than planned because of the price of solar. Check your facts.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/katharinabuchholz/2026/02/27/ch...

Believe it or not, you're both correct! China is closing more (old, inefficient, polluting) coal plants than anybody else, and opening newer ones than anybody else.

Re: Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe (2025)

#446

Post by lovich »

jodrellblank wrote: post #313
throw567643u8 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> " This argument that we have to self destruct to have the moral highground " That's not the argument they made. > " they know windpower and solar are not viable long term " Thanks for the nonsensical, unsupported, right-wing talking points, throwaway account. Great contribution. > " Web search how many Chinese coal plants came online in the last six months. " I web searched and found that "China installed a record…

It’s a 50 day old account making, as you pointed out, factually incorrect claims.

Just assume it’s a clanker or propagandist and flag it imo

Re: Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe (2025)

#447

Post by Jblx2 »

deanc wrote: post #172
21asdffdsa12 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://globalenergymonitor.org/projects/global-coal-plant-t... They have more coal power plants planned and your data hickup worked out during recensions and covid.

As other posters below you have pointed out, it's not as simple as you make it out. You can't just stop building power plants overnight. The population and demands of China are growing and those needs need to be met immediately. There is no simpler, more understood way of rolling out new energy than building coal & gas power plants. But look at the data. They are building clean energy solutions at a faster rate than…

>The population and demands of China are growing

The population of China has been decreasing since 2022.

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=population+of+china+is+decr...

Re: Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe (2025)

#448

Post by arbuge »

bramhaag wrote: post #45

https://beyondfossilfuels.org/europes-coal-exit/ keeps track of coal phase-out commitments. 24 European countries still use coal generators, and 6 have not even planned to phase them out (Serbia, Moldova, Turkey, Poland, Kosovo, Bosnia). Never used coal power: Albania, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Switzerland, Norway Phased out: 2016: Belgium 2020: Sweden, Austria 2021: Portugal 2024: United…

> Never used coal power: Albania, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Switzerland, Norway

Definitely wrong - Malta has used coal power for example. See for example:

https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/power-and-energy/mal...

"In 1979, a second oil crisis, this time due to the Iranian Revolution, again brought into question Malta’s energy policy and made the government seek alternatives. Between 1982 and 1987, four stream turbines were installed at the Marsa Power Station. This strategy could have worked if the environmental and human health impacts of the coal used at the power station had not caused the local population to protest. In 1987, construction of a new power plant, at Delimara, started; the plant was commissioned in 1994. In the meantime, the Marsa Power Station continued to be improved, with new turbines added to eliminate the use of coal. On January 12, 1995, Malta became independent of coal but consequently became fully dependent on oil."

Re: Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe (2025)

#449

Post by detritus »

jahnu wrote: post #250
disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think they should be allowed for cultural reasons but only if cut by hand like we did when I was a kid :) Me too! That was a lot of work, and surprisingly hard to stack.

And turning it would cut your fingers to shreds! But it was great if the weather was fine.

Thank you both for the imagery here - quite beautiful, in its way.

This has made me remember having to go out to the coal shed and fill up a brass bucket and then come back in all covered in coal dust.

I've not thought about That Smell in years!

Re: Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe (2025)

#450

Post by pollorollo »

nomdep wrote: post #424

I saw the data. They have replaced coal plants with gas plants. Mostly imported gas. Why do Europeans hate the idea of safe nuclear plants though? https://ember-energy.org/data/electricity-data-explorer/?cha...

While nuclear was cost competitive a decade ago, it turns out that is no longer the case [0].

As of 2025, the cheapest levelized cost of energy is solar ($58), onshore wind ($61), and gas combined ($78).

Although the data is US-based, European prices likely follow a similar pattern.

[0] https://www.lazard.com/media/5tlbhyla/lazards-lcoeplus-june-...

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