China promotes global coal power development | Wilnesh News

New research shows that the world added more coal power capacity last year than in any year since 2016, with China driving most of the growth and future planned capacity.

A Report A report released by Global Energy Monitor on Thursday showed that annual net coal capacity increased by 48.4 gigawatts, an annual increase of 2%. China alone accounts for about two-thirds of new coal-fired power plant capacity.

Other countries commissioning new coal-fired power plants include Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Japan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, South Korea, Greece and Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, other countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom have also slowed plant closures, decommissioning only about 22.1 gigawatts last year – the lowest amount since 2011.

The authors of the GEM report recommended that countries commit to shutting down coal-fired power plants at a faster pace and suggested that countries such as China impose tighter controls on the development and use of new power plants.

“Otherwise, we risk forgetting about meeting the goals in the Paris Agreement and forgetting the benefits of a rapid transition to clean energy,” said Flora Champenois, an analyst at Global Energy Monitor.

The Paris Climate Agreement, signed by most of the world’s governments in 2015, sets long-term goals to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels such as coal. However, coal power installed capacity continues to grow steadily.

China has separately set a goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2060. Talk about 2021 China will “strictly control coal consumption” by 2025 and “gradually reduce coal consumption” thereafter.

However, according to GEM data, China started construction of 70.2 GW of new coal power installations last year, almost 20 times the 3.7 GW of the rest of the world. The country will retire only about 3.7 GW of coal capacity by 2023.

Nonetheless, GEM said that by taking “immediate and determined action”, China can still achieve its climate goals, including the National Energy Administration’s 2022 target of phasing out 30 gigawatts of coal power by 2025.

While low retirement rates contributed to coal’s buzz in 2023, retirement rates are expected to accelerate in the United States and Europe, the report said. This may offset some of China’s new capacity.

“Coal’s fortunes this year have been an anomaly as all signs point to a reversal of this accelerated expansion,” Champenoit said.

Although China has always been a major coal consumer, accounting for more than half of coal consumption Consumption since 2011it will also help expand global renewable energy capacity.

according to a Report According to IEA data, global new renewable energy installation capacity will grow by nearly 50% in 2023, reaching nearly 510 GW, which is the fastest growth rate in two decades.

“While Europe, the United States and Brazil are seeing record growth in renewable power generation, China’s growth rate is extraordinary,” the report states.

The IEA said that China’s solar power generation capacity put into production in 2022 is equivalent to global power generation, while new wind power generation capacity has also surged 66% compared with the same period last year.

However, experts believe China’s rapid economic growth, coupled with the unreliability and intermittent nature of renewable energy, makes coal an important fallback option in an economy focused on manufacturing.

Rob Thummel, managing director of energy value chain investment firm Tortoise, said China is also in the top five in terms of global coal reserves, but not in terms of other less polluting options such as oil and gas.

“In China, coal is the country’s largest energy resource, so China will continue to develop coal to maintain energy security,” Tumel added.

The IEA estimates that all coal power generation globally requires Stop by 2040 Limit temperature rise to the critical threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius.

According to GEM, to achieve the 2040 phase-out target, an average of 126 GW of coal-fired power plant capacity will need to be closed each year over the next 17 years, which is equivalent to the closure of approximately two coal-fired power plants per week.

It added that the required cuts would be even greater given the 578 GW of coal capacity under construction and pre-construction. According to GEM data, global coal production capacity is still being retired at a rate that is not exceeding the rate of new production capacity.

EU Climate Change Monitoring Service say on tuesday The world experienced its warmest March on record, marking the tenth consecutive month of setting new temperature records.