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(Bloomberg) — Ireland became the latest European country to put an end to coal-fired power generation, with Spain and Italy set to follow soon.
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The last coal plant in the country has officially closed in County Clare, after more than 40 years in operation, state utility ESB said in a statement. Also this year, Italy will shut two major stations, and Spain’s remaining ones will be decommissioned or transformed into gas plants, according to nonprofit Beyond Fossil Fuels.
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Europe’s massive renewable energy ramp-up to fight climate change has led the continent to almost halve coal’s presence on the grid, according to data from Ember. Until 2013, the most polluting fossil fuel had the biggest share of Europe’s power mix.
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“This is the end of coal in Ireland and the start of a cleaner energy future,” ESB Chief Executive Officer Paddy Hayes said in the statement. Ireland follows countries like the UK in going coal-free.
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The shift was made possible by Ireland’s booming wind sector, which now supplies more than a third of the country’s electricity. Still, environmental groups warn that growing reliance on gas and a data-center expansion could undermine Ireland’s climate targets if major investments in grid flexibility and storage aren’t made.
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The Irish coal plant, Moneypoint, will remain on standby, burning oil in emergency situations under Irish grid operator EirGrid’s direction until 2029. The site is transitioning to house more assets for the energy transition, with Ireland’s first synchronous compensator starting operations there in 2022.
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This device helps the grid regulate the inertia and frequency on the grid in the face of rising renewables. This type of grid stability is important to keep the lights on even when large amounts of renewables flood the system, an issue which many are pointing to as the cause of the recent blackout in Spain.
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