China Cuts Back on New Permits For Coal Power as Renewables Boom

(Bloomberg) -- China has hit the brakes on new coal-fired power projects, as the rapid take-up of clean energy proves sufficient to meet consumption growth in electricity.

Just 9 gigawatts of coal power was permitted in the first half of this year, 83% less than the same period in 2023, according to a joint study released on Thursday by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, and Global Energy Monitor.

Still, the pipeline for coal-power remains substantial — and a threat to China’s climate goals — with annual permits exceeding 100 GW in both 2022 and 2023, the study found. Over 41 GW of coal plants were under construction in the first half of 2024, more than 90% of the total being built around the world, it said.

“With clean power now capable of meeting the country’s electricity demand growth, China should cancel its remaining coal proposals and accelerate the retirement of its existing coal plants,” said Christine Shearer, a research analyst at GEM.

Instead, China is expanding its coal fleet, already the world’s largest, as a backstop to its record-breaking deployment of renewables like wind and solar, which offer only intermittent power. But the plants are expensive and designed to last decades, and environmentalists are concerned that coal consumption is being set up to plateau, when the climate crisis demands that usage should plunge.  

Greenpeace East Asia, which has reported similar data on new permits, said it’s an open question whether approvals are slowing only because the pipeline is so stuffed, or whether a turning point in the energy transition has been reached as coal becomes an “increasingly impractical” power source.

On the Wire

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Towering mounds of coal are piling up at mines, ports and power plants across China. It’s an energy-transition signal that miners and traders ignore at their peril.

China’s major zinc smelters are discussing possible output cuts, after tight global supplies of concentrate and weak demand forced spot processing fees into negative territory. 

This Week’s Diary

(All times Beijing unless noted.)

Thursday, Aug. 22:

• EARNINGS: Eve Energy

Friday, Aug. 23:

• China weekly iron ore port stockpiles
• Shanghai exchange weekly commodities inventory, ~15:00
• EARNINGS: Sungrow, Goldwind, China Coal, Zijin Mining, CMOC

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