Coal keeps the lights on

Coal is essential for electricity world wide

Coal fired power stations provide reliable base load electricity around the world. There is no doubt that renewables are important and growing, but they just can't keep pace. It's the availability of coal that keeps electricity coming - it's essential to keep the lights on, and will be for many years to come.




 

World total energy supply

Here is a chart from the International Energy Agency (2014) report of  Key World Statistics - world electricity generation by fuel.





World coal production

From the same IEA report we can see that world-wide coal production has grown significantly, with most growth in the domestic Chinese market.