Page 5 - AsiaElec Week 30 2022

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec

during energy shortfalls rather than adding
to renewable projects in recent years. China’s deep-seated falsehood” she says.
“energy market gets warped around coal,” Ms. “It’s part of a traditional mindset about the
Wu added. energy sector that clawed its way back into prom-
At the 2021 United Nations Framework Cli- inence rather quickly. An overcapacity of this
mate Change Conference (UNFCCC) in the one energy source is a major hurdle for energy
Scottish city of Glasgow, China had promised to security, as well as China’s energy transition.”
start reducing its dependence on coal, albeit only China has, in recent weeks, been warming to
after the middle of the decade. imports of Australian thermal and coking coal
Some sources indicate, however, that up to 150 again after having blocked imports from one
GW of new coal fired capacity could be added of its leading suppliers on the back of political
to the Chinese grid by this time, with China’s tensions between Beijing and Canberra in 2020.
Electricity Council releasing a prediction that Grid capabilities across China rather than
total nationwide energy generation could reach the quantity of, and access to, coal imports from
around 3,000 GW by the end of 2025. Australia and more recently Russia, is not the
Of this, coal and gas-fired power is forecast to issue according to Wu:
constitute almost half, a fact less about energy “China’s power inadequacies do not originate
security and more about lack of overall grid from low-generation capacity. China has an
adaptability for Wu Jinghan. overcapacity of coal-fired power plants. Power
“Building more coal-fired power capacity will inadequacies originate from poor integration of
not provide energy security for China. This is a generation, grid, load and storage” she says. ™

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