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China pledges end of funding for coal fired power plants abroad
China Finance
China’s president Xi Jinping made the announcement that China will not build new coal-fire projects abroad in his address on 22 September at the United Nations General Assembly. The move could be pivotal in tackling global emissions.
China has been funding coal projects in countries like Indonesia and Vietnam under a massive infrastructure project known as the Belt and Road initiative, BRI. But it has been under pressure to end the financing, as the world tries to meet Paris climate agreement targets. “China will step up support for other developing countries in developing green and low-carbon energy, and will not build new coal-fired power projects abroad,” Mr Xi said in
a video recording at the annual summit. No further details were provided, but the move could limit the expansion of coal plants in many developing countries under China’s BRI. The BRI has seen China fund trains, roads, ports and coal plants in numerous countries, many of them developing nations. For the first time in several years however, it did not fund any coal projects in the first half of 2021. China is also the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter and is heavily reliant on coal for domestic energy needs. Mr Xi mentioned promises made last year about China achieving peak emissions before 2030 and then transitioning to carbon neutrality by 2060. The US Climate Envoy John Kerry welcomed the announcement, saying that he was
“absolutely delighted to hear that president Xi has made this important decision”. The head of the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference due to be held in Scotland during October also applauded the news. It is an announcement that China has increasingly been expected to make. However it is more a guide to policy than a hard commitment. Crucial details will need to be cleared up, for example - when will this take effect? And will it cover new power plants approved but not yet built?
Then there is still China’s dependence on coal to be addressed. Half the coal burned in the world is burned in China. It is still adding numerous new coal power plants at home, with a lifespan of 40 to 50 years.
US coal fired generation back on the rise USA Coal firing
natural gas and coal.
The US Energy Information Administration expects 22 % more US coal-fired generation in 2021 than in 2020, according to its latest ‘Short Term Energy Outlook’, STEO. The US electric power sector has been generating more electricity from coal-fired power plants this year, as a result of significantly higher natural gas prices and relatively stable coal prices. 2021 will yield the first year-over-year increase in coal generation in the United States since 2014.
Coal and natural gas have been the two largest sources of electricity generation in the United States. In many areas of the country, these two fuels compete to supply electricity based on their relative costs. US natural gas prices have been more volatile than coal prices, so the cost of natural gas often determines the relative share of generation provided by
Because natural gas-fired power plants are more thermally efficiently than coal-fired plants, natural gas-fired generation can have an economic advantage even if natural gas prices are slightly higher than coal prices. Between 2015 and 2020, the cost of natural gas delivered to electric generators remained relatively low and stable. This year, however, natural gas prices have risen at an astronomical rate. The year-to-date delivered cost of natural gas to power plants has averaged $4.93 per million Btu, more than double last year’s price.
The overall decline in US electricity demand in 2020 and record-low natural gas prices also led coal plants to reduce significantly the percentage of time that they generated power. In 2020, the utilisation rate (aka capacity factor) of the country’s coal-fired generators averaged
40%. Before 2010, coal capacity factors routinely averaged 70% or more. This year’s higher natural gas prices have increased the average coal capacity factor to about 51%, which is almost the 2018 average. However, says EIA, the increase in coal generation will most likely not continue. The sector has retired about 30 % of its generating capacity at coal plants since 2010, and no new coal-fired capacity has come online in the United States since 2013. In addition, coal stocks at power plants are relatively low, and production at operating coal mines has not been increasing as rapidly as the recent increase in coal demand. For 2022, EIA forecasts that US coal-fired generation will decline about 5% in response to continuing retirements of generating capacity at coal power plants and slightly lower natural gas prices.
Global offshore wind pipeline exceeds 400 GW
Worldwide Wind power New research by RenewableUK’s Project Intelligence team shows that the total pipeline of offshore wind projects around the world now stands at 413 GW. This figure includes projects that are fully operational, under construction, consented or being planned. In terms of operational capacity, the UK retains its top spot at 10.4 GW but China at 9.4 GW is catching up, and Germany stands third at 7.7 GW. Globally, 35.3 GW of offshore
capacity is fully operational.
The UK has a total pipeline of 63.2 GW of offshore wind capacity. China is slightly ahead at 64.4 GW and the USA is in third place with 40.5 GW. However, as the pipeline includes projects at all stages of planning including early development, it cannot be assumed that they will all be built.
The figures come from RenewableUK’s ‘Offshore Wind Project Intelligence’ report, published on 29 September at its annual
8 | October 2021 |
www.modernpowersystems.com
Global Offshore Wind conference and exhibition in London.
RenewableUK’s executive director Isabel DiVanna commented: “Our latest Project Intelligence report demonstrates the global appetite to accelerate the deployment of offshore wind around the world. It is especially useful to see where opportunities are arising for offshore wind supply chain companies in the UK to export their knowledge and expertise to new markets.”
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