At a time when most of the world is looking to renewable, environmentally friendly power sources, coal power might not be the most popular kid on the energy block. However, thanks to increasing demand for electric power worldwide, the Global Coal-fired Power Generation Market is posting a CAGR of 3.8 percent from 2013-2018.
Increase in Demand for Electric Power
Global demand for power nearly doubled from 1990 to 2011, and this demand is likely to increase by 81 percent from 2011 to 2035. Coal power plays a highly strategic role in meeting the global energy needs. At the moment, coal meets about 23 percent of primary energy needs and 39 percent of total requirement globally.
Unfortunately for coal, most developed countries have set up stringent environmental regulations to lower carbon dioxide emissions. The US Environmental Protection Agency has implemented several regulations and policies to curb the level of harmful emissions, including the Clean Air Act, the Energy Policy Act (2005), the Coal Combustion Residual Rule, and the Cross State Air Pollution Rule. In December 2013, the European Commission published the Clean Air Policy Package that includes new air quality objectives to 2030 and a National Emission Ceilings Directive with stricter emission ceiling limits for six main pollutants. These regulations have serious implications for conventional coal-fired power plants because these new rules will result in the shutting down of existing coal-fired plants.
Focus on Renewable Energy Sources
In addition to the number of regulations in place, many countries are also focusing on renewable energy sources for power generation while shifting away from thermal power. Nearly all countries have a well laid out renewable energy roadmap listing the renewable energy targets to be achieved within a specified period of time, which is expected to impact growth of coal-based power generation.
But even with the general popularity of renewable energy, it is not expected to meet the base load energy needs for most countries. Nuclear power looked like it was going to take over as the go-to power supply, until the 2011 Fukushima Daichi disaster in Japan. The disaster sparked caution regarding nuclear power, leaving coal as the only reliable power source that can be used for base load power generation, especially in developing countries such as China and India.
As a solution that aims to both meet global power demands and adhere to environmental regulations, governments and industry experts alike have turned their sights to clean coal technologies such as supercritical and ultra-supercritical technologies, Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS), and IGCC Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC).
Supercritical and ultra-supercritical technologies are the only two technologies that have been widely deployed for the construction of pulverized coal combustion plants. IGCC and CCS are new and technically viable technologies that have still not gained popularity worldwide because of their higher capital and operational costs. However, technological advancements in this area is expected to make these technologies significantly more cost competitive and commercially viable.
These new technologies will help the coal power market grow over the projected period.
