Over the past several months the spread of so-called “clean-dark” and “clean-spark” prices have narrowed but still heavily favor coal usage for power plants, and the recent jump in gas prices threatens to once again widen the spread. The “clean-dark” price is the one paid for coal usage when accounting for both fuel costs and the cost of carbon permits, while the “clean-spark” price covers the cost of gas utilisation and subsequent emissions. The gas cost has begun to jump again over the past two days as Russian gas flows to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline fell further and Moscow said more delays in repairs could lead to it suspending all flows. read more While the global coal […]