The report, released today by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and the Global Energy Monitor (GEM), discovered that 50 GW worth of coal-processing infrastructure out of the brand-new 106 GW authorized are already under building and construction across China. Lots of were identified as “supporting” baseload capacity to guarantee the stability of the power grid and to prevent prospective blackouts, the authors composed.
Last year, China authorized the highest variety of new coal-fired power plants considering that 2015, according to a brand-new report, demonstrating how the worlds biggest emitter still depends on a fossil fuel that researchers agree need to be quickly phased out to address the climate crisis. China authorized the building of 106GW of coal power capacity, four times more than in 2022.
” China continues to be the glaring exception to the continuous international decline in coal plant advancement,” Flora Champenois, a research analyst at GEM, stated in a declaration. “The speed at which jobs advanced through permitting to construction in 2022 was amazing, with many tasks sprouting up, getting authorizations, getting funding and breaking ground.”
A coal plant in Hanan province. Image credits: Flickr/ Polywoda.
A quick coal expansion
According to existing information, China slowed down its retirement of coal plants in 2022.
Nevertheless, Chinas environment targets remain challenged by its failure to stop coal, which is its biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions. The country is the worlds biggest customer and producer of coal, representing half of the worldwide demand. The brand-new facilities authorized in 2015 are comparable to six times the quantity of overall coal capability included across the remainder of the world.
According to existing information, China slowed down its retirement of coal plants in 2022. The nation closed down 4.1 GW of coal-fired capacity in 2015, which was lower than the 5.2 GW retired in 2021. The revised policies now keep inefficient and small plants online as backup or in routine operation after retrofits, instead of closing them down.
Chinas climate targets remain challenged by its inability to give up coal, which is its largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. The country is the worlds largest consumer and producer of coal, accounting for half of the international need. The new centers authorized last year are equivalent to six times the amount of overall coal capability added throughout the rest of the world.
Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed in 2020 to peak Chinas greenhouse gas emissions before 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2060, a relocation commemorated by advocates. He has also said that the country will start to “phase down” coal intake from 2026, without defining when developing new facilities will stop, and vowed to stop constructing coal-fired power plants abroad.
The report includes a set of policy recommendations for the Chinese government. The nation ought to strictly manage new coal power capacity and reject or withdraw authorizations for jobs that are not needed for supporting grid stability, as well as accelerate financial investment in clean power and electricity storage and reinforce energy effective requirements, the authors wrote.
The full report can be accessed here.
The massive new wave of coal power plants seems to be a response to last summers electrical energy lacks in China, triggered by a historic dry spell and a heatwave, and exacerbated by outdated grid management. While the nation is making progress in broadening tidy energy, its power system still depends on coal to fulfill electricity peak loads.
” If China is going to fulfill its climate dedications, as we expect, these new coal power plants are going to end up as under-utilized and short-lived malinvestments,” Lauri Myllyvirta, Lead Analyst at CREA, stated in a declaration. “The most immediate turning point is to scale up financial investments in tidy power generation to cover all of power demand development.”
