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By Andy Home, Senior Metals Columnist

Hello Power Up readers! Old King Coal isn’t going to be retiring any time soon despite mounting political and environmental pressure on the sector. India is relying on the stuff to avoid the widespread blackouts that plagued the country in 2021 and 2022. China’s planned overhaul of its power system is meant to accelerate the country’s shift to renewables, but coal will remain a core component during the transition. “The reality is that coal demand is going to increase,” Septian Hario Seto, Indonesia’s deputy of investment at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investment Affairs, told the Coaltrans industry conference. It helps that governments’ green energy ambitions are colliding with reality as supply chains struggle to keep up with demand, particularly when it comes to wind power.

Today’s top headlines:

• Kremlin: no plans to raise crude oil supply to offset fuel export ban

• Russian oil sold to India at 30% above Western price cap, traders say

• Saudi Aramco to buy stake in EIG’s MidOcean Energy to tap into LNG

A bright future for dirty old coal? REUTERS/Mick Tsikas

Delegates to the Coaltrans conference in Bali, the biggest industry event in the calendar, were in an upbeat mood about coal’s future. There is a growing consensus that renewables cannot be deployed fast enough, cheaply enough or at sufficient scale to knock coal out of Asia’s energy mix. My colleague Clyde Russell has just returned from Bali and explains why Asian countries are far more comfortable about using coal during the energy transition than either Europe or the United States.  

Keeping the lights on in India thanks to coal. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas

India’s electricity transmission system broke all previous records for both generation and consumption in August. The system generated record load to avoid the widespread blackouts that marked the last two years. However, as my colleague John Kemp writes in an in-depth analysis, it wouldn’t have been possible without coal.

China plans to create a unified national power market, merging six regional grids into a single electricity market and introducing spot trading. Reforming the currently disjointed system is viewed by Beijing as a key step on the road to a greener future. But, as Andrew Hayley in Beijing reports, coal will remain a part of the energy mix and quite possibly a significant one depending on how a proposed capacity compensation scheme is implemented by provincial authorities.  

Wind power industry needs more turbines like these under construction in Le Havre, France. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

While the coal sector has a new spring in its step, the wind power sector’s problems are mounting. Supply chain delays, design flaws and rising costs have led to projects off Britain, Norway and the Netherlands being cancelled in recent weeks with many more under threat. The wind turbine industry has grown too fast too quickly and is now struggling to keep up with new orders. Governments aren’t helping with many setting wind power auction prices too low for operators to commit to new projects. This deep-dive Reuters analysis looks at the multiple challenges facing the wind power sector and what it means for green energy goals, particularly in Europe.  

Taiwanese flag blowing in the wind. REUTERS/Ann Wang

Wind power is at the heart of Taiwan’s ambition to generate 20% of its power needs via renewables by 2030. Taiwan is currently one of the dirtiest and most import-dependent countries in Asia, importing around 98% of its energy sources and getting more than 80% of its electricity from fossil fuels. A massive build-out of offshore wind capacity is planned. As my colleague Gavin Maguire writes, Taiwan’s wind-powered green shift has repercussions both for its domestic power market and for global fossil fuel export markets. 

“”The ratio between risk and reward is out of line in the offshore wind market in many jurisdictions. Governments can and should fix this issue quickly, otherwise we could see a major market failure and climate and economic goals will simply not be met.”  

Ben Blackwell, CEO of the Global Wind Energy Council, on why so many offshore wind auctions are failing. 

The world is in a race to produce enough lithium to meet soaring demand from the electric vehicle battery sector. Mexico should be part of the answer. The country sits on potentially huge undeveloped deposits. But a controversial decision to nationalize the sector is already running into trouble. As Valentine Hilaire in Mexico City reports, the government may not have the legal right retroactively to cancel mining concessions already granted to China’s Ganfeng Lithium. The legal stand-off isn’t good news for the new national lithium company looking for partnerships with private investors. 

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