Page 5 - AsiaElec Week 21 2021

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec

provide plant-level emissions data, as they are Xi said that Beijing would follow a policy of
deemed to be commercially sensitive informa- strictly controlling, while still increasing, coal
tion. It is also unknown if emissions are moni- use until 2026, when consumption would begin
tored at all. From old studies by the state-owned to fall.
energy company, it is known that unfiltered SO2 China’s policy is to wind down its coal con-
emission concentrations of old Turkish coal sumption during this slow transition to net zero.
plants are between 25-60 times higher than the Coal would now longer be the major source of
current limits; even the ones with desulphuriza- power, but would provide grid flexibility, relia-
tion do not comply with the new emission con- bility and as a major source of employment.
centration limits. This gap between regulation India is even more coal reliant than China,
and practice is reflected in total SO2 emission the fuel accounting for 71% of the country’s gen-
statistics of the country. eration in 2020, Ember said. Then came China
Turkey closed down some of its coal power with 61%, slightly more that Beijing’s own fig-
plants at the beginning of 2020 due to being ures, with Indonesia next on 60%, Australia on
noncompliant with the emission limits. How- 54%, South Korea on 38% and Japan on 29%.
ever, just a couple of months after this decision, In a nutshell, Asia is perhaps the most
these power plants received temporary permis- exposed global region to coal, and is well behind
sion to operate following the Ministry of Envi- such regions as the EU is pushing reducing their
ronment and Urbanization announcement. reliance on it.
Currently they are all operational and included
in the official installed capacity statistics. Africa
Recently in Turkey only the Çan 18 Mart The other major coal economy is South Africa,
lignite power plant was upgraded with a proper where coal accounted for 86% of power supply in
FGD. The 300-MW lignite power plant paid 2020, making it the most coal reliant power sec-
$for desulphurization. tor in the world. Renewables currently accounts
for just 6%
Asia
China is by far the world’s largest consumer of This an inheritance from the apartheid era,
coal for power generation, accounting for 53% of when the government could invest in cheap
total global coal generation in 2020, according to domestic coal production in order to fuel indus-
the think tank Ember. trial expansion. However, the country’s energy
sector has failed to modernise since the end of
The government says that 72% of China’s apartheid in the early 1990s.
power came from coal in 2005, falling to 56.8% This has left an investment-starved and
in 2020, with a target of 56% for 2021. virtually bankrupt Eskom, the state-owned
However, in absolute terms, China coal gen- monopoly, running a power sector than can-
eration acutely grew by 18% between 2015 and not adapt to new renewable technology or even
2020, and by 1.7% between 2019 and 2020, the maintain reliable supplies to industrial and
only country in the world to see growth in coal domestic customers
generation in 2020. A lack of maintenance at older coal plants
However, although this share is falling, prin- has led to rolling power cuts. This has acutely
cipally to meet Beijing’s target of net zero by affected industry in South Africa, and slowed
2060, the country is still a major builder of new growth and socio-economic development.
power plants Power consumption has actually fallen
It commissioned 38.4 GW of new coal-fired by 5.4% since 2015, unique for a developing
power in 2020, compared to 11.9 GW turned economy,
on in the rest of the world, according to Global Eskom now had debts totalling ZAR450bn
Energy Monitor (GEM). Meanwhile, the coun- ($25bn), and the company’s power purchase
try currently has 247GW of coal power capacity agreements with a range of private mining com-
under development. panies have recently been the focus of legal cases
Indeed, President Xi Jinping recently highlighting corruption dating back to the pres-
announced at US President Joe Biden’s Virtual idency of former President Jacob Zuma.
climate Summit that China’s carbon emissions When South African President Cyril Rama-
would peak before 2030 and the country should phosa took office, he overhauled Eskom’s
attain carbon neutrality by 2060. management and board, as well as putting in a

Week 21 26•May•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P5