Coal power plants in Germany, the Nederlands and the USA have to shut down due to competition

with wind energy

Germany

The lights are rapidly going out on a large slab of fossil fuel generation in Germany and elsewhere in
Europe with three of the biggest power producers in the EU announcing massive closures and
mothballing of plants. In the past two weeks, companies such as RWE. E.ON, and EnBW have
canvassed the closure of tens of thousands of megawatts of fossil fuel capacity as coal and fired
plants get squeezed out of the market by renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.
RWE, Germanys second biggest utility, said it would take around 3,100MW of power plant capacity
offline in Germany and the Netherlands, and officials told Reuters that thousands of megawatts of
further capacity could also be shut down or idled. Another German utility EnBW says it is to close
four power plants two coal, one gas and one co-generation which have a combined output of 668
MW. The company blamed the rapid structural change in the energy sector, in particular the
growth of renewables which had reduced fossil fuels to the role of marginal power plants. This
caused a drastic fall in revenue. Navigant Research recently estimated that the combined impact of
market forces and tighter emission control would force 137 coal-fired plant closures in North
America and 144 in Europe by 2020. This would amount to 53GW (53,000MW) and 49GW,
respectively.
More details on the following link:
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/fossil-fuel-giants-relegated-to-role-of-also-rans-87034

USA

In Texas, wind has more than doubled in the past six years and now makes up 13% of the states
generation capacity. For the first time, Texas is connecting most of its wind farms to its largest cities.
What began as a trickle of power to Dallas and Austin from competitors windmills in West Texas has
started flooding the market. The supply uses new transmission cables being stretched about 3,600
miles (5,800 kilometres) across the state in a $6.8 billion project set to be fully built by December.
Thats bringing cheap electricity into the service area of Energy Future Holdings Corp., bad news to
holders of $32 billion of the power companys debt (Energy Future was taken private by KKR & Co.
and TPG Capital six years ago in the largest leveraged buyout in history). Energy Future, the biggest
power producer in Texas, said in April and again this month its held talks with creditors and is
evaluating changes to its capital structure that may include filing for Chapter 11 for most of the
company.
More details on the following link:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-28/wind-surge-saps-bondholder-hope-for-energyfuture-payout.html

Spain

A report from Goldman Sachs says Spain is a good example of how an increase in renewable energy
production has to be offset by a lower average load among fossil fuel plants. Rising generation from
solar plants in particular (whose output often coincides with the time of peak power demand) can
result in lower peak power tariffs, undermining the profitability of many conventional power plants,
it says. Goldman noted that over a 12-month period to September 2012, wind power contributed
roughly 17 per cent of total Spanish power generation (although in some months it contributes
significantly more) and is on track to match and even exceed the share of coal (20 per cent) in coming
years.
More details on the following link
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/08/19/graph-how-wind-power-displaced-coal-power-in-spain/