COP23: Renewables Need Gas – For Now
The uneasy rivalry between natural gas and ever-cheaper renewables and their alliance in the struggle against coal in power generation was a recurring theme at this year's UN Climate Change Conference (COP23) in Germany. Just two years after the historical Paris Agreement, COP23 saw more and more politicians and observers in the city of Bonn finding shortcomings in the implementation of that deal and urging stricter energy policies and environmental regulations.
The main issues remain the sustainable development of energy transition towards green energy sources and the much needed phase out of coal-fired power generation. Natural gas is widely considered the best transitional energy source as renewables struggle with grid and storage limitations.
Natural gas, the least polluting fossil fuel, and the expected replacement of coal in the global energy sector, was named as a cheap and reliable fuel for electricity generation. Moreover, the ongoing LNG boom makes natural gas more available worldwide.
“There will be always a need for gas to stabilise the electricity network, regardless of what sort of renewables you have,” said undersecretary of the UAE ministry of energy, Matar Hamed Al Neyadi, during his COP23 session on energy transition, adding that most countries are moving towards using natural gas as the cleanest fossil fuel for electricity generation.
However, the exact role of natural gas was a key discussion point throughout the COP23 panels, with energy leaders and policy makers questioning the timeframe of the transition: much depends on how much progress is made with renewables and energy efficiency, and how legislation is determined, said the president of the European Alliance to Save Energy, Monica Frassoni, on EU Energy Day, a side event of COP23.
In terms of coal phase-out, one development at COP23 was the launch of Powering Past Coal Alliance, founded by the UK and Canada, which aims to end the use of unabated coal power generation in the world by 2025.
“Unabated coal is the generation of electricity from a coal plant without any treatment to reduce substantially the emissions of carbon dioxide. It emits twice as much CO2 as gas per unit of electricity”, said the Powering Past Coal Alliance in a press release. “The Powering Past Coal Alliance will signal to the world that the time of coal has passed. The UK is committed to completely phasing out unabated coal-fire power generation no later than 2025 and we hope to inspire others to follow suit”, said the UK minister responsible for climate change and idustry, Claire Perry.
Daniel Stemler