The government's energy reforms - including a new energy bill and the introduction of a carbon floor price - could still allow the UK to rely heavily on coal for power well into the next decade, according to this analysis by Joss Garman. Here we plot the return of UK coal....
1) Falling UK coal prices and an insignificant cost for emitting carbon dioxide mean that coal - the most polluting energy source - has regained it's number one spot in the UK power mix.
2) There will be some drop off as plants close due to EU acid rain regulations. But 'transitional' arrangements put in place by the government will allow many to remain open. New greenhouse gas emissions standards only apply to totally new build plants - not those that upgrade and analysis by the IEA suggests the UK's carbon floor price may not be high enough to stop coal.
3) But very few coal plants have actually made the changes they need to make to stay open under the EU's acid rain rules - leaving open the possibility that new emissions rules could yet be applied to them.
