Germany’s Coal Plants Return to Profit
The coal-fired power plants in Germany are profitable to run again amid surging electricity demand in a cold snap and a plunge in European carbon prices this week.
Coal plants running on lignite, the dirtiest coal, returned to profit after carbon prices slumped by about 8% so far this week, following a jump in the previous week, analysts at Energy Aspects Ltd and LSEG told Bloomberg.
The plunge in carbon permit prices made coal-fired power plants in Germany more profitable to run than gas-fired capacity, according to the analysts.
Coal generation is now back to profit in Europe’s biggest economy, for the first time since November.
The cold snap, soaring demand, and faltering renewable output, especially solar in the winter, have resulted in coal and gas plants meeting almost half of Germany’s electricity demand this week, per data from Fraunhofer ISE cited by Bloomberg.
Germany looks to phase out coal-fired power capacity by 2030, but it continues to rely on coal power plants when demand is high and renewable output low in the winter.
At the end of last year, Germany’s ruling coalition slashed in half the capacity of new natural gas-fired power plants it aims to tender by 2032 in a significant scale-down from the previously planned 20 GW of new gas capacity.
The governing coalition led by conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz has reached a compromise on the energy policy as Europe’s biggest economy looks to balance energy security with its decarbonization goals.
The government will tender 10 GW of new gas-fired capacity by 2032, to serve as flexible backup to wind and solar energy, as Germany also looks to phase out coal-fired power capacity by 2030.
Germany, which in 2023 closed all its remaining nuclear power plants – is now seeking to balance the generation and transmission systems with new gas power plants.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
The coal-fired power plants in Germany are profitable to run again amid surging electricity demand in a cold snap and a plunge in European carbon prices this week.
Coal plants running on lignite, the dirtiest coal, returned to profit after carbon prices slumped by about 8% so far this week, following a jump in the previous week, analysts at Energy Aspects Ltd and LSEG told Bloomberg.
The plunge in carbon permit prices made coal-fired power plants in Germany more profitable to run than gas-fired capacity, according to the analysts.
Coal generation is now back to profit in Europe’s biggest economy, for the first time since November.
The cold snap, soaring demand, and faltering renewable output, especially solar in the winter, have resulted in coal and gas plants meeting almost half of Germany’s electricity demand this week, per data from Fraunhofer ISE cited by Bloomberg.
Germany looks to phase out coal-fired power capacity by 2030, but it continues to rely on coal power plants when demand is high and renewable output low in the winter.
At the end of last year, Germany’s ruling coalition slashed in half the capacity of new natural gas-fired power plants it aims to tender by 2032 in a significant scale-down from the previously planned 20 GW of new gas capacity.
The governing coalition led by conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz has reached a compromise on the energy policy as Europe’s biggest economy looks to balance energy security with its decarbonization goals.
The government will tender 10 GW of new gas-fired capacity by 2032, to serve as flexible backup to wind and solar energy, as Germany also looks to phase out coal-fired power capacity by 2030.
Germany, which in 2023 closed all its remaining nuclear power plants – is now seeking to balance the generation and transmission systems with new gas power plants.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
Coal India unit valued at $2.2 billion after stellar market debut
Shares of Bharat Coking Coal, India’s top coking coal miner, soared as much as 96% in their market debut on Monday, buoyed by optimism around the country’s steel sector.
The stock pared some of its gains to trade 83.4% higher at 42.19 rupees as of 10:26 a.m. IST on the National Stock Exchange of India, valuing the company at 196.48 billion rupees ($2.16 billion).
The shares listed at 45 rupees, compared to the issue price of 23 rupees. The benchmark Nifty 50 was down 0.6% on the day.
The company, which produces coking coal – a key steelmaking raw material – is a unit of government-owned Coal India, one of the world’s largest coal producers. This is India’s first mainboard listing of 2026.
“A combination of things like lower ticket price, reasonable valuations and strong parentage of Coal India have driven the surge in stock,” said Sunny Agrawal, head of fundamental equity research at SBICAPS Securities.
“One can look at Bharat Coking Coal as a proxy player for steelmakers, which currently enjoy a strong business outlook,” Agrawal added.
The $118.7-million IPO drew bids worth $13 billion last week, making it one of the most heavily subscribed state-run offerings in recent years.
India ranked as the world’s second-largest primary market in 2025 after the United States, according to LSEG data.
Bharat Coking Coal’s stellar listing reflects its strategic importance in India’s steel and metallurgical coal supply chain, said Shivani Nyati, head of wealth at Swastika Investmart.
The company plans to acquire coking coal mines in Australia and Russia in the next two to three years, its chairman and managing director Manoj Kumar Agarwal told Reuters last week.
($1 = 90.7910 Indian rupees)
(By Urvi Dugar and Vivek Kumar M; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Sonia Cheema)
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