On November 10, 2017 the Italian ministry of Economic Development of Italy published its Strategia Energetica Nationale per 2030 (SEN2030) phasing out coal in 2025, replacing it with lots of natural gas and investing 175 bln:  30 mln in infrastructure , 35 bln in renewables and the rest in energy efficiency. Hydrogen has been left out of the strategy although reference is made to the need of storage and grid management in view of a 28% national target by 2030 up from 23% by 2020.

To date, six countries, states, provinces or cities have completely phased out coal power since 2014, and an additional 18 have announced a coal power phase-out date of 2030 or sooner. Three of the G7 economies, and a total of nine EU countries, have decided to phase out coal – the Netherlands and Italy joining the list over the last month. Indonesia, the third largest builder of new coal power plants after India and China in recent years, also said it would not start more coal projects in its main grid.The list of jurisdictions becoming coal-free includes the capitals of China and India. Both countries have dramatically curtailed investment in new coal plants in response to concerns over wasted resources in the wake of coal power overcapacity and falling utilisation rates, public outcries over high levels of air pollution, and ambitious clean energy targets.

“Record amounts of coal-fired capacity were retired in the past two years, and the growing number of phase-out policies means the trend will accelerate. Improving competitiveness of clean energy, poor economics of coal, air pollution problems and efforts to tackle climate change have all played a key role in accelerating the demise of coal,” said Christine Shearer, Senior Researcher for CoalSwarm’s Global Coal Plant Tracker.

“While the progress in moving away from coal has been faster than expected, it needs to be accelerated urgently. Meeting the objectives of the Paris agreement requires all OECD countries to close their coal-fired power plants by 2030, so it’s high time for other countries, especially Germany, Japan and Southeast Asia, to follow this example,” said Shearer.

Photo courtesy: Enel Coal plant Genoa