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Coal-fired power plant in the US state of Texas
Photo: David J. Phillip / AP
What Donald Trump had only promised but never realized seems at first glance to be happening after all: a renaissance of coal as an energy source in the USA.
According to a report by the US news broadcaster CNN, the importance of coal for electricity supply is growing again in the United States - for the first time since 2014.
According to the US energy agency EIA, the amount of electricity produced in coal-fired power plants will be a whopping 22 percent higher than last year by the end of 2021.
That would be the first increase in coal-fired power generation in seven years, according to the EIA.
Authority does not see a long-term turnaround
Coal has been the primary energy source for US power supplies for decades.
In recent years, however, the proportion of coal-fired power plants has continued to decline.
That had less to do with concerns about the climate than with competition from relatively cheap natural gas.
In 2019, US coal consumption had fallen to 1964, according to CNN.
However, this trend has been reversed in recent months as natural gas prices have skyrocketed, making coal more competitive.
According to the EIA, coal-based power generation will increase this year due to "significantly higher natural gas prices and relatively stable coal prices".
The cost of supplying natural gas to US power plants has doubled compared to the previous year, according to the EIA.
The development is also remarkable because the longstanding decline of the coal industry in the USA was a political issue in the past.
Donald Trump campaigned in 2016 with the promise to usher in a rebirth of the coal industry.
However, he was unsuccessful during his tenure because coal was simply too expensive compared to other energy sources.
The current boom in coal is likely to remain just a flash in the pan.
The EIA assumes that the increase in coal-fired power generation »will most likely not continue«.
trembling
