Here is some win-win news for the environment…China has announced plans to cancel construction of 103 coal-fired power plants. These power plants would have provided 120GW of electricity had they been completed.
As per IEA (International Energy Agency) estimates, China is the biggest carbon polluter in the world, generating more than 900GW of coal-based electricity. China has committed to limit its coal-based power generation capacity to 1,100 GW by 2020. This new initiative will help China meet its own energy targets.
China’s capacity would have reached 1,250 GW if all these canceled plants had been completed. Just to give you an idea of the amount of coal used to generate electricity, the entire US has about 305 gigawatts of coal capacity in total.
Although environmental groups are welcoming the decision, it is still doubtful that local governments will follow orders.
Lin Boqiang, director of the China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy, said, “Some projects might have been ongoing for 10 years, and now there’s an order to stop them. It’s difficult to persuade the local governments to give up on them.”
