Page 4 - AsiaElec Week 08 2022

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec

Chinese coal power

approvals reach

33GW in 2021

CHINA CHINESE power and steel companies are significantly more than the rest of the world put
continuing to invest in coal-based production together.
capacity at alarming rates, with 33GW of new After accounting for plant retirements, which
project started in 2021, exceeding the rest of the slowed down as well, China’s coal power capacity
world several-fold. continued to increase while that in the rest of the
There is no sign of investment in coal-based world continued to fall.
capacity being scaled back yet, despite the coun- However, the briefing said that permitting for
try’s carbon neutrality targets, the Centre for new coal power projects was essentially frozen
Research on Energy and Clean Air the Global in 2021, as the Chinese government said it was
Energy Monitor said in a briefing. placing stricter controls on “high emissions”
The coal power and steel sectors are Chi- projects.
na’s two largest emitters of CO2. The new coal However, reflecting shifting political signals,
power and steel projects started in 2021, once permitting has been restarted in 2022 with a
completed and operated, will emit as much CO2 bang, with five coal power projects, with 7.3GW
annually as Florida, the third-highest emitter of total capacity, were cleared for construction in
among U.S. states, the briefing warned. just the first six weeks of 2022.
Key findings For example, Zhejiang Energy Group has
The report found that construction of 33GW received approval for construction of a 2-GW
of new coal power plants was started in 2021, the coal-fired power plant at a cost of $1.10bn in the
most since 2016 and almost three times as much province of Zhejiang. It stressed that the project
as the rest of the world put together. would use highly efficient “ultra-supercritical”
In addition, 25GW of new coal power plants technology.
were added to the grid, a drop from 2020 but still

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 08 23•February•2022