Tag: Report
Report: Nearly 80% of EU Coal Units Operate at a Loss
The post Report: Nearly 80% of EU Coal Units Operate at a Loss appeared first on POWER Magazine.
A new report from a group that studies the impact of climate change on financial markets recommends that European Union (EU) governments move to phase out coal-fired power generation completely by 2030 in order to avoid even-greater economic damage.
Carbon Tracker, a London, UK-based group supported by foundations in Europe and the U.S., on Oct. 24 released its Apocoalypse Now report. The study said European utilities could lose as much as $ 7.3 billion in 2019 from operations of coal-fired power plants. The group said nearly 80% of coal units in Europe are not economic, up from about 46% of units just two years ago.
Matt Gray, head of Power & Utilities for Carbon Tracker, in an email to POWERsaid, “In this report, we explain the financial implications of recent changes to EU coal power economics. In doing so, we argue EU policymakers and investors need to prepare for no hard coal or lignite generation by 2030.…
Restructuring Report: Eskom ‘Fundamentally Insolvent, Permanently Impaired’
The post Restructuring Report: Eskom ‘Fundamentally Insolvent, Permanently Impaired’ appeared first on POWER Magazine.
Eskom, South Africa’s state-owned utility that produces nearly 90% of the African powerhouse’s electricity, is saddled with liabilities, unavoidable expenses, and stranded costs that exceed $ 113 billion, and for various reasons, it is “fundamentally insolvent, permanently impaired, and will never be a true going concern enterprise under its current legal, operational, and governance structure,” concludes a report recently issued by an independent chief restructuring officer (ICRO).
The bombshell two-volume report issued on Oct. 17 by Abu Dhabi–based consulting firm CRO Advisers—a firm that specializes in restructuring and recapitalization of sovereign government assets—was authored by the firm’s chairman, K.W. Miller, whom Eskom stakeholders appointed as ICRO advisor. As part of its independent restructuring analysis, CRO Advisers sought to assess the financial and operational health of South Africa’s Treasury as it relates to Eskom, as well as Eskom’s own governance, credit risk, and quantification. As Miller told POWER on Oct.…
EMP Threat Real but Limited, EPRI Says in Much-Anticipated Report
Depending on the hazard field, electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) resulting from detonation of a nuclear weapon at high altitude or in space could cause significant damage to electronics on the bulk power system and even prompt a regional voltage collapse, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) says in much-anticipated findings from its three-year study on high-altitude EMPs (HEMPs).
However, the research does not support notions that a HEMP event could cause a crippling nationwide blackout that could last for many months to years, as some experts have warned for years, EPRI said.
EPRI’s April 30–released report is geared mainly toward asset owners and operators of the U.S. bulk power system, though it is also designed to inform regulators and policymakers. By furnishing the power sector with options for mitigating potential HEMP impacts that it identified, its primary aim is to help stakeholders make “more informed” decisions regarding the threat of a HEMP attack on the U.S. grid.
The findings come barely a month after President Trump signed an executive order to boost coordination for and national resilience against EMP threats—both from nuclear warfare and natural events like solar superstorms.…