Tue Mar 30, 2010 5:00pm BST
HOUSTON, March 30 (Reuters) - Coal stockpiles at U.S. power plants rose 2.2 percent this week but were 2.6 percent smaller than last year at this time, Genscape said on Tuesday.
U.S. generators - which rely on coal to fuel about half of U.S. electricity production - had 58 days worth of coal on hand, two more days than last week, the industry data provider said.
Genscape said companies averaged two less days of coal stockpiled than the same week of 2009, when stockpiles were bloated because the recession had shrunk power demand.
Power generators as of Monday had 155.6 million tons of coal, up from 152.3 million tons stockpiled on March 22 but down from 159.8 million tons the same week last year, Genscape said.
The week-on-week rise followed warmer weather across the Midwest and North. That cut coal-fired power demand by easing heating needs.
The year-on-year decline appears at least partly due to slower springtime growth in inventories as miners maintain cuts in output that they had just begun at this time last year.
Inventories typically grow in spring and fall when demand for heating and cooling drops. Stockpiles usually shrink during summer and winter when demand rises for climate control in homes, stores and factories.
Mathematical rounding sometimes affects the results, overstating some changes and understating others, Genscape has said.
The numbers reflect adjustments to the Genscape model and restatement of inventories for early 2009 due to distortions caused by unprecedented substitution of gas for coal in that period. (Reporting by Bruce Nichols; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
Source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKN3033834920100330
HOUSTON, March 30 (Reuters) - Coal stockpiles at U.S. power plants rose 2.2 percent this week but were 2.6 percent smaller than last year at this time, Genscape said on Tuesday.
U.S. generators - which rely on coal to fuel about half of U.S. electricity production - had 58 days worth of coal on hand, two more days than last week, the industry data provider said.
Genscape said companies averaged two less days of coal stockpiled than the same week of 2009, when stockpiles were bloated because the recession had shrunk power demand.
Power generators as of Monday had 155.6 million tons of coal, up from 152.3 million tons stockpiled on March 22 but down from 159.8 million tons the same week last year, Genscape said.
The week-on-week rise followed warmer weather across the Midwest and North. That cut coal-fired power demand by easing heating needs.
The year-on-year decline appears at least partly due to slower springtime growth in inventories as miners maintain cuts in output that they had just begun at this time last year.
Inventories typically grow in spring and fall when demand for heating and cooling drops. Stockpiles usually shrink during summer and winter when demand rises for climate control in homes, stores and factories.
Mathematical rounding sometimes affects the results, overstating some changes and understating others, Genscape has said.
The numbers reflect adjustments to the Genscape model and restatement of inventories for early 2009 due to distortions caused by unprecedented substitution of gas for coal in that period. (Reporting by Bruce Nichols; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
Source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKN3033834920100330
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