I guess this is one way to control the growth of coal-powered generating plants.
In April 2021, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to “strictly control coal-fired power generation projects” in China. Since then, government permits for new coal power plants have soared. According to analysis of Global Energy Monitor data, in the two years before Xi’s pledge, the government approved 127 plants, collectively capable of producing 54 gigawatts of coal power. In the two years after, that number rose to 182 plants, with 131 gigawatts of coal power. In short, China’s new coal power capacity has more than doubled.
** Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy said he is working on legislation designed to slow climate change by reducing global emissions while combating Chinese economic strength and protecting U.S jobs that rely on fossil fuels.
“Cassidy, in remarks during a virtual event hosted by sustainable investment nonprofit Ceres, said the bill will address the nexus between facilitating economic growth in the U.S., global emissions, and national security.**
That is an area of dispute. The EU claims it has workarounds; it will eventually end up at the WTO Appellate Body (currently the Multiparty Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement).
Meanwhile, India has plans to increase its own coal production by 50-60%.
The Union coal ministry on Monday announced plans to increase India’s coal production to 1.404 billion tonne by 2027, with an eye to further boost it to 1.577 billion tonne by 2030. Current domestic production hovers around one billion tonne annually.
A government agency in China announced that operators of coal-fired power plants will receive guaranteed payments based on the installed capacity of their units, part of a program to ensure a stable power supply across the country.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), in a notice published Nov. 10, said the program will commence on Jan. 1, 2024…
Chinese officials have repeatedly said the country needs to expand its coal-fired power generation, at least for another few years, due to the variability of power output from renewables…China permitted more coal-fired power plants in 2022 than it had since 2015, and permitted four times more units last year than it did in 2021.