China’s National Energy Administration has made the announcement to cancel the construction of 103 coal-fired power plants throughout the country. The coal projects, which were planned or under construction, would have added 120 gigawatts of coal-fired capacity – more than twice the entire coal-fired capacity of Germany. The cancellation is part of China’s effort to reign in over-investment in dirty electricity generation that already is running at half capacity and to reach its goal of reducing its coal-fired capacity to 1,100 gigawatts by 2020.
Although there has been large growth in wind, solar, and nuclear power in the country, China is still the world’s largest producer and consumer of coal. China has over three times the total coal-fired capacity of the US. The directive to halt construction of the coal projects will be costly to the local governments involved; some might not comply with the proposed change. Learn more.