China Approved More Coal Plants in 2023 Q1 Than in All of 2021: Greenpeace Report - EcoWatch

2023-04-25

Something is seriously wrong with and in China.

Excerpt from this story from EcoWatch:

A new analysis from Greenpeace has found that in just the first three months of this year, China has already approved about 20.45 gigawatts of coal projects, more than the country approved in all of 2021.

In 2022, China saw a surge in coal project approvals, amounting to the approval of about two projects per week, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. Yet this year’s figures for the first quarter of the year are already substantially higher than the same time frame of 2022, when China approved 8.63 gigawatts. In 2021, a total of about 18.55 gigawatts of new coal projects were greenlit, as reported by Al Jazeera.

Greenpeace analyzed figures in official approval documents and found multiple mentions of energy security concerns as justification for the new coal plants. Other concerns mentioned in the documents included “meeting heating demand,” “meeting growing energy demand,” and “stimulating local economic development.”

But Greenpeace noted that investing more for coal is actually less impactful at improving the grid and meeting high energy demands.

“The 2022 coal boom has clearly continued into this year. Summer is around the corner, and there’s a long list of energy infrastructure fixes needed all around China,” Xie Wenwen, climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia, said in a statement. “But throwing more coal at the wall isn’t one of them. China’s electric grid doesn’t lack generation capacity. The grid lacks adequate flexibility and responsiveness. These problems will continue to inhibit electricity transfer and storage until we face them head on.”