西班牙关闭一半燃煤电厂 有望成为首个无煤国家

据西班牙媒体阿尔卑斯6月29日报道，西班牙有望创纪录地成为无煤国家，在煤矿关闭一年半后，西班牙所有剩余的燃煤火力发电厂将于6月30日开始关闭。如果没有已经被欧盟禁止的国家援助，这些煤矿将无法生存。

Spain is on track to become a coal-free country in record time. All of its remaining coal-fired thermal power plants will start shutting down on Tuesday, a year-and-a-half after the closure of the coal mines, which could not survive without the state aid that the European Union has banned.

 

西班牙仍在运营的15个燃煤电站中，有7个将在6月30日停止运营，在其所有者，即电力公司，认为其根据欧盟法规进行改造没有经济意义。还有另外4个电厂也准备很快关闭。

Seven out of the 15 coal-fired power stations that are still working in Spain will cease being operational on June 30, after their owners – the electricity companies – decided that it does not make financial sense to adapt them to European regulations. And four more are getting ready to shut down soon.

 

然而，这些关闭行为似乎与西班牙政府的政策无关。实际上，西班牙生态转型部拒绝加入承诺为淘汰燃煤电厂设定固定日期的国家联盟。相反，是市场本身以及欧盟采取的措施，敲响了煤炭的丧钟。

Yet these closures appear to have little to do with the Spanish government’s policies. As a matter of fact, the Ministry for Ecological Transition has refused to join an alliance of countries pledging to set a fixed date for phasing out this type of facility. Instead it was the market itself, together with the measures coming out of Brussels, that sounded the death knell for coal.

 

这些发电厂中有几个已经连续数月没有发电，由于市场条件和欧盟的政治决策的共同影响，这些电厂不再盈利。

Several of these power stations have not been producing electricity for months because it is no longer profitable due to a combination of market conditions and political decisions by the European Commission, which is the executive branch of the EU.

 

几年前，这些高度污染工厂的温室气体排放量约占西班牙所有温室气体排放量的15％。2018年，西班牙消耗的所有电力中有近15％来自燃煤热电站。

Until just a couple of years ago, these highly contaminating plants were accounting for approximately 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions in Spain. In 2018, nearly 15% of all electricity consumed in Spain came from coal-fired thermal stations.

 

但这似乎成为永远的过去了。今年五月，燃煤电厂仅贡献电力的1.4％。5月1日和2日，国家电网运营商西班牙电网公司（Red Eléctrica de España）停产两天，这是自1990年有记录以来的第一次。

But that seems like an eternity ago. In May of this year, coal-fired plants barely contributed 1.4% to the power mix. And they produced nothing at all between May 1 and 2, for the first time since Red Eléctrica de España (REE), the national power grid operator, began keeping records in 1990.

 

将于6月30日逐步淘汰的7个燃煤热电厂分别位于拉科鲁尼亚的Meirama、阿斯图里亚斯的Narcea、莱昂的La Robla和Compostilla、特鲁埃尔的安道尔、科尔多瓦的Puente Nuevo和帕伦西亚的Velilla。

The seven coal-fired thermal plants that will be phased out on Tuesday are Meirama in A Coruña, Narcea in Asturias, La Robla and Compostilla in León, Andorra in Teruel, Puente Nuevo in Córdoba and Velilla in Palencia.

 

拥有它们的4家公司，Naturgy，Endesa，Viesgo和Iberdrola，已向EL PAÍS确认，这些电厂将在6月30日停止运营，以避免违反欧洲环境指令。该指令要求此类工厂采用净化排放气体的技术。

The four companies that own them – Naturgy, Endesa, Viesgo and Iberdrola – have confirmed to EL PAÍS that they will cease operations on June 30 to avoid violating a European environmental directive forcing such plants to adopt technology to clean up the gases they emit.

 

这7个电厂的总发电量为4630兆瓦，略低于西班牙已安装的煤炭发电装机容量的一半，提供约1100个工作岗位，包括直接雇员和外包工作。

Together, these seven plants represent 4,630 megawatts (MW), a little less than half the installed coal power generation capacity in Spain. They provide around 1,100 jobs, including direct employees and outsourced work.

 

另外4家电厂的总装机容量为3092兆瓦，雇用了约800名工人，已经申请关闭。业内消息人士估计，Iberdrola在阿斯图里亚斯的Lada电厂，Endesa在A Coruña的As Pontes电厂和Almería的Litoral电厂以及加的斯的Los Barrios电厂可能在2021或2022年关闭。

Four other plants accounting for 3,092 MW and employing around 800 workers have already filed for permission to shut down. Industry sources estimated that Iberdrola’s Lada plant in Asturias, Endesa’s As Pontes plant in A Coruña and Litoral plant in Almería, and Los Barrios in Cádiz could be closed by 2021 or 2022.

 

西班牙还有另外4个尚未申请关闭的燃煤电厂，尽管它们的未来看上去不确定。

There are four other coal power plants in Spain that have not yet applied for closure, although their future seems uncertain.

 

环保非政府组织绿色和平的能源与气候变化专家塔蒂亚娜·努尼奥表示：“我认为趋势是到2025年将不再有煤炭生产。”国际法与环境研究所主任安娜·巴雷拉同意上述观点：“我们考虑彻底关闭燃煤电厂的情景设置是2025年。”业内消息人士认为，淘汰工作也许会更快，甚至在两到三年内完成。

“The way things are going, I think there will no longer be any coal generation by 2025,” said Tatiana Nuño, an energy and climate change specialist at environmental NGO Greenpeace. “The scenario we are working with for complete closure is 2025,” agreed Ana Barreira, director of the International Law and Environment Institute (IIDMA). Industry sources believe the phase-out could happen even faster, in two to three years.

 

一方面，欧盟的改革推高了欧洲市场的二氧化碳价格。欧盟排放交易系统设定了二氧化碳排放价格，该价格高得足以阻止化石燃料使用。2019年期间，一吨二氧化碳的价格为25欧元，这意味着在许多欧洲国家，燃煤电力的利润不及选择使用天然气或可再生能源等。

On one hand, EU reforms drove up the price of CO2 in the European market. The EU emissions trading system set a price for releasing carbon dioxide that was high enough to discourage the use of this fossil fuel. During 2019, the price of a ton of CO2 was €25, meaning that in many European countries coal-fired electricity is not as profitable as other options such as natural gas or renewable energy.

 

此外，自2019年以来天然气价格低廉。西班牙有许多使用天然气的联合循环发电厂，可以轻松替代燃煤发电厂。“ 天然气价格下降是因为全球供应过多，且没有地方存储，”能源经济集团主管Pedro Linares指出。

Adding to this is the low price of natural gas since 2019. Spain has many combined-cycle plants that use gas and can easily replace the coal-powered plants. “The price [of gas] went down because there was an excess of global supply and no place to store it,” noted Pedro Linares, director of the Economics for Energy group.

 

对2020年的预测是，天然气价格上涨使煤炭更具竞争力，但是新冠疫情的流行破坏了这种情景。结果，自2019年3月以来，燃煤电厂的发电量一直处于历史低位。据其所有者称，今年至少有4家，Compostilla、Litoral、Los Barrios和Velilla，没有发电。其他电厂在6月30日宣布退出之前，也一直在燃烧剩余的存货。

The forecast for 2020 was that the price of gas would rise and make coal more competitive again. But the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted that scenario as well. As a result, coal plants have been producing electricity at historical lows since March 2019. At least four – Compostilla, Litoral, Los Barrios and Velilla – have produced nothing this year, according to their owners. And the others have been burning their remaining stock before calling it quits tomorrow.

 

分析师最惊讶的似乎是西班牙的进展速度。IIDMA的巴雷拉表示：“我认为撤资运动也起到了作用。” 这暗示公司抛弃化石燃料的压力来自于投资基金。能源经济集团的利纳雷斯对此表示赞同。“一年前仍然有一些怀疑论者，但是看到这些动向后，我认为西班牙再也不会回归煤炭了。”

What analysts seem most surprised about is the speed of the process in Spain. “I think that the disinvestment movements have also played a role,” said Barreira of IIDMA, alluding to pressure from investment funds asking companies to ditch fossil fuels. Linares, of Economics for Energy, agreed. “A year ago there were still a few skeptics out there, but after the movements we’ve seen, I think that there is no going back to coal for Spain.”