Last year saw highest coal power capacity additions since 2016, led by China: Report

Last year saw a surge in coal power capacity additions globally, marking the highest increase since 2016, with China leading the growth and future planned capacity, revealed a new report released on Thursday (Apr 11).

The research by Global Energy Monitor (GEM) shows that the world added a net annual coal capacity of 48.4 GW, a 2 per cent year-over-year increase. 

Of this, China alone accounted for approximately two-thirds of the new coal plant capacity. Other countries contributing to this growth via new coal plants included Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Japan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, South Korea, Greece, and Zimbabwe.

Countries like the US and UK slowed their rate of plant closures, with only about 22.1 GW retired last year — the smallest amount since 2011.

The authors of the GEM report, as per CNBC, have urged countries to accelerate the shutdown of coal plants and for nations like China to adopt stricter controls on the development and usage of new plants.

Flora Champenois, an analyst at Global Energy Monitor, emphasised the importance of this, stating, “Otherwise we can forget about meeting our goals in the Paris Agreement and reaping the benefits that a swift transition to clean energy will bring.”

As per IEA estimates, to limit temperature rises within the key threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius, the all global coal generation needs to cease by 2040. This, according to GEM, would require an average of 126 GW in coal plant capacity to be shut down annually for the next 17 years — equivalent to about two coal plants per week.

Despite China’s commitment to reach net-zero by 2060 and its pledge to control and phase down coal consumption, the country started construction on 70.2 GW of new coal-power capacity last year, almost 20 times as much as the rest of the world combined. China also only retired about 3.7 GW of its coal capacity in 2023.

However, GEM remains optimistic, and said that with “immediate and determined action,” China can still meet its climate targets, including a goal set by the National Energy Administration in 2022 to retire 30 GW of coal power by 2025.

While low retirement rates contributed to coal’s significant growth in 2023, the report expects these rates to accelerate in the US and Europe, potentially offsetting some new capacity in China.

On the renewable energy front, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported that global renewable capacity additions increased by almost 50 per cent to nearly 510 GW in 2023. This, as per the report, is the fastest growth rate in two decades. 

China played a significant role in this growth.

“While the increases in renewable capacity in Europe, the United States and Brazil hit all-time highs, China’s acceleration was extraordinary,” said the report.

The nation commissioned as much solar capacity as the entire world did in 2022 and saw a 66 per cent year-on-year increase in wind additions.

However, despite these renewable energy gains, experts suggest that China’s rapid economic growth, combined with the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources, has made sure that coal remains a critical fallback energy source. 

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(With inputs from agencies)