Britain's H1 Coal Power Generation Falls 19 pct

Gas-fired power generation down 11 pct; overall British electricity generation down 9.2 pct.

British coal-fired power generation fell 19 percent in the first half of 2014 against a year earlier, government data showed on Thursday, meaning it was likely that power sector carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the EU's second largest polluter also fell.

Coal-fired generators pumped out 53.74 TWh (terawatt-hours) of power during the first six months of 2014, down 12.9 TWh from the year before, provisional data published by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) showed.

Gas-fired output also fell by almost 11 percent to 38.91 TWh, meaning carbon permit demand from the UK power sector likely decreased over the period.

Utility buyers are the largest source of demand for carbon permits in the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS).

The EU ETS caps the emissions of over 12,000 power plants, factories and airlines, requiring them to surrender one carbon permit for every tonne of CO2 emitted annually by April of the following year.

Overall, British electricity generation fell 9.2 percent to 152.69 TWh in Jan-June compared to the first six months of 2013, the DECC data showed.

Power generators such as Centrica (CPYYY) have already reported a fall in first half profit because of weak demand for gas and electricity after a warmer than usual winter.

The fall in fossil fuel output was partly offset by a 12.7 percent increase in wind-power generation at 12.86 TWh, while, nuclear output rose by 0.7 percent to 30.88 TWh.

Britain and Ireland's power and heat sectors are forecast to emit 143.8 million tonnes of CO2 in 2014, analysts at Thomson Reuters Point Carbon said, a near 6 percent fall on 2013.

Reporting By Susanna Twidale