Italy's largest utility by capacity Enel SpA (ENEL.MI) is looking to buy several million metric tons of coal from North American and Colombia, a senior executive said Friday.
Italy
's
largest utility by capacity Enel SpA (ENEL.MI) is looking to buy several
million metric tons of coal from North American and
Colombia
, a
senior executive said Friday.
"As a result of the shale gas in the U.S., coal production from North and
South America have freed up," Filippo Mancini, head of Enel's generation
and energy management division, told Dow Jones Newswires on the sidelines of a
conference organized by Italian coal association Assocarboni in Rome.
"We are looking at buying some extra million tons of coal from
Colombia
and
North American," he said.
Enel's Italian coal-fired plants are basically running at full capacity as the
low price of the fossil fuel makes electricity generated from them profitable,
said Mr. Mancini.
"We work well with coal and it is thanks to it that we are seeing lower
electricity prices in
Italy
,"
he said.
Mr. Mancini said gas-fired power stations in
Italy
are
unprofitable as the recession reduces electricity demand and gas price levels
mean such facilities lose money.
Italy
is
currently going through its longest recession since the Second World War.
According to Assocarboni, 60% of Italian electricity generation in 2012 came
from gas, which is almost all imported, while coal contributed to 12% of
Italy
's
energy mix last year.
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