Energy Factoid: China has five times more coal-fired power plants than the U.S. and is aggressively building more while the U.S. closes them

The result is destabilized U.S. power grids and no reductions in global carbon emissions.

The latest data for July 2022 shows that China had more coal-powered power plants than all countries except Ukraine, Taiwan, Australia, and South Africa. China may already be the world’s leader with its aggressive building schedule.

Two global energy research groups found that China last year approved the greatest number of coal-fired power generation projects since 2015, according to the website Powermag.com. A report from the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and Global Energy Monitor (GEM) shows the Chinese government approved permits for 106 GW of new coal-fired generation capacity in 2022. The report said the new capacity was spread across 82 sites in China, with 168 coal-fired units, and was four times the amount of new coal-fired power capacity permitted compared to the prior year.

Even NPR notes that China is building six times more coal plants than the rest of the world combined, the equivalent of 2 new coal plants per week:

“China permitted more coal power plants last year than any time in the last seven years, according to a new report released this week. It's the equivalent of about two new coal power plants per week. The report by energy data organizations Global Energy Monitor and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air finds the country quadrupled the amount of new coal power approvals in 2022 compared to 2021. That's despite the fact that much of the world is getting off coal, says Flora Champenois, coal research analyst at Global Energy Monitor and one of the co-authors of the report. Everybody else is moving away from coal and China seems to be stepping on the gas," she says. "We saw that China has six times as much plants starting construction as the rest of the world combined."

Meanwhile, in the USA, the focus is on shutting down coal-fired power plants. For example, the EPA projects that the “Good Neighbor Rule” will result in 14 GW of coal retirements:

“Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on March 15, 2023, issued the final “Good Neighbor Plan,” its latest iteration of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) that could require coal, oil, or gas steam power plants in 22 states to reduce their nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emissions levels by 50% by 2027 compared to the 2021 ozone season.”

The Institute for Energy Research summarized the EPA plan to speed up coal plant closures:

“It is anticipated that President Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will soon release new and expanded regulations that will result in coal’s demise.  EPA is expected to release six new rules covering everything from carbon to coal ash, which are expected to trigger new coal plant retirements as the cost of keeping coal plants operational with the new regulations increases. Most of the existing coal plants have already paid off their capital costs, but these regulations could make them pay for costly pollution control equipment, even though the U.S. has a remarkable record of clean air and clean-burning energy. That increase along with less operating time to recover costs as more wind and solar plants come online driven by subsidies and mandates could make more coal plants uneconomic.”

U.S. power grids are sounding the alarm that more dependable and dispatchable electricity generation, such as coal and natural gas, is needed. For example, a recent report from the largest power grid in the U.S., PJM, which serves 65 million people on the east coast, including the District of Columbia, warns of “increasing reliability risks.” Their report said they must have more dispatchable power to avoid catastrophe.

If we need a reminder about what can happen if the stability of power grids is threatened, look to Germany. Germany closed most of its nuclear-generating plants and coal mines and built massive wind farms to virtue-signal the world that they were truly green. After wind power failed to generate enough electricity, Germany began razing villages, demolishing wind farms, and building LNG import terminals. The U.S. is clearcutting forests so Germany and other EU countries can burn woodchips for more electricity.

Robert Bryce calls this the “Iron Law of Electricity, which says that people, businesses, and governments will do whatever is necessary to do to get the electricity they need.” It is time for the U.S. to stop its virtue signaling and address the need for stable power grids.