Coal use rose this month when icy, calm weather quieted wind farms and strained the electricity system. The European Union generated 22% of its power with coal and its sister fuel lignite, also known as brown coal, in the first two weeks of December, said Mr. Czyżak. That is up from 17% in the same period last year and from the 15% average for the whole of 2021.
In Europe’s interconnected market, coal power flowed across borders.
At times, Great Britain meets more than half its power demand with wind. On Dec. 11, that fell to less than 4% just as demand jumped, according to National Grid ESO. The power-grid operator ordered two standby coal units to warm up in case they needed to generate power the next day.
National Grid stood the generators down after high U.K. prices pulled in power from the continent and Norway along subsea cables. Some came from France, which passed on power it had imported from Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Italy—and in particular Germany, where coal and lignite plants were running full throttle.
In the first two weeks of December, Germany generated 49% more power with coal and 6% more with lignite than in the same period a year ago, according to EnAppSys Ltd.
“It’s a security of supply issue across Europe and the Germans had some plants that they could bring back, so that’s what they did,” said Jean-Paul Harreman, a director at the data analysis and consulting firm. “If the Germans didn’t deliver, then the French would have a problem.”
Wind speeds and temperatures have since picked up while several French nuclear reactors have come back online. But finding ways to meet demand when renewables flicker is one of the biggest challenges facing governments and companies over the next decade, energy executives say.
Neither hydrogen nor batteries, which could store power to be released when wind speeds drop, are ready to be produced or deployed at scale
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