6. Read or listen to: https.'ffwwwwsj.comfarticlesfcoal-pricestumble-while-use-ofwind-power-solarenergy- leaps-ahead-33eb5726 \"Coal Prices Tumble While Use of Wind Power, Solar Energy Leaps Ahead\" a. In the market for coal, list things from the article that affected the price of coal. Provide specics be careful to identify things that change demand and supply, not quantity demanded and quantity supplied! Demand Su 1 b. Draw simple supply and demand curves and ,0 describe what is happening in the coal market. Give a complete description of any change in supply, demand, quantity supplied, quantity demanded and the equilibrium (abbreviations like we used in class are acceptable - S, D, P*, Q*, Q5, QD etc.) Label everything carefully and be sure to explain in the space provided what factors caused the changes you showed. c. With the changes you described, can you say for sure what happened to the equilibrium price of coal? The equilibrium quantity? Explain. Coal Prices Tumble While Use of Wind Power, Solar Energy Leaps Ahead Coal prices have come crashing down from last year's records. Central Appalachian coal has been trading at $88.80 a short ton, down 57% from the record $205.55 at the start of the year. Cash prices for thermal coal mined from northern Appalachia and the Illinois Basintwo places where a lot of exported coal originateshave fallen more than half since September, when mp8 was stocking up for winter. Futures for coal that is shipped around the Pacic from an Australian export facility have made a similar plunge. Central Appalachian coal price, weekly Coal markets are highly inuenced by those for natural gag, which is also $200 a short ton burned to generate electricity. As 180 with coal, natural-gas inventories that looked alarmingly low last 160 summer recovered thanks to 140 unusually warm winter weather that obviated a lot of demand for heating. 120 Natural-gas futures for May delivery 100 ended Thursday at $2.104 per million British thermal unit, down 63% from so a year ago. 60 . . . Even after the decline in coal pr1ces, 40 varieties produced in the eastern U.S. 20'20 '21 '22 '23 have lately cost between $3.10 to || 2020 '21 '22 '23 have lately cost between $3.10 to Source: FactSet $3.55 per million BTUs, according to the Energy Information Administration. That suggests that coal prices might have to fall further to regain competitiveness with natural gas. Coal also faces increased competition from renewables, including wind, solar, hydropower and biomass, which last year accounted for more US. power generation than coal for the rst time ever, federal record-keepers say. Share of US. power generation 100% Natural gas 90 80 70 60 I Renewables 50 40 I Coal 30 20 Nuclear 10 0 Other llllllll'llll'Illllll 2002 '05 '10 '15 '20 Coal remains expensive relative to prepandeinic prices, but its rapid deation shows that power producers around the world are condent enough in their supplies to stop bidding up cargoes. \"We went from undersupplied to oversupplied very quickly,\" said Andy Blumenfeld, data analytics director at McCloskey by OPIS, a pricing service that is part of Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones 8c Co. Prices started surging in 2021, when power producers red up coal-burning generators to keep air conditioners running during some of the hottest temperatures on record. Stockpiles at US. power plants shrank to their lowest level since the Nixon administration. A ban on Russian exports following the invasion of Ukraine further crimped supplies while the highest natural-gas prices in years and the prospect of shortages pushed up what power generators were willing to pay for coal. By the summer of 2022another scorcherpower producers on both sides of the Atlantic were competing for a limited supply of unsold coal. North American power generators' stockpiles dwindled to as little as 58 days' worth of coal, nearly a month less than the ve-year average, according to energy consulting rm Wood Mackenzie. Congestion at ports and along rail NEWSLETTER SIGN-UP lines ensnared cargoes, prompting What's News grid operators and utilities to take . unusual steps to curtail coal use Catch up on the headlines, understand the news and make better decisions, free in your inbox daily. Enjoy a free before the weather turned COld. In article in every edition. Colorado, Xcel Energy Inc.'s C, _ XEL 0-6096 ' state subsidiary dialed Subscribe back how much coal it burned in favor of natural gas, even as the competing fuel's price spiked to shale-era highs. \"Given the fact that we were seeing delays and shortages in the delivery of coal, we made the prudent call that we would use less coal so that we could conserve that in advance of the winter heating season,\" said Robert Kenney, president of Xcel Energy's Colorado arm. Warm winter weather left a lot of coal unburned, though. Between December and January U.S. inventories grew by 4.6% at a time of year when they typically decline, according to EIA data