Because the world is increasingly running on coal. Guardian Reports
Despite the climate crisis, energy production from coal is increasing in the world: China is mainly responsible. The Guardian's in-depth analysis
Last year, for the first time since 2019, coal-fired electricity generation capacity grew, despite warnings that power plants need to be closed at a rate of at least 6% each year to avoid a climate emergency, he writes The Guardian .
INCREASING COAL CAPACITY
A report from the Global Energy Monitor found that coal-fired power generation capacity grew 2% last year, thanks to an increase in new plants in China and a slowdown in plant closures in Europe and the United States.
According to the report, about 69.5 gigawatts (GW) of coal-fired power plant capacity came online last year, two-thirds of which was built in China. Plants have also been built in Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Japan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, South Korea, Greece and Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, a slowdown in coal plant closures in the US and Europe led to the retirement of more than 21GW last year. The result was an annual net increase of almost 48.5GW, the highest since 2016.
WHAT CLIMATE SCIENTISTS SAY
The report's authors say coal plants need to be closed at a faster pace and that China needs to adopt tighter controls on capacity expansion.
Flora Champenois, an analyst at Global Energy Monitor, said: “Otherwise we can forget about achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement and reaping the benefits that a rapid transition to clean energy will bring.”
Climate scientists have said that all coal-fired power plants would have to be closed by 2040 – unless they are equipped with effective carbon removal technology – if governments hope to limit global warming to 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial levels.
According to the report, this would require retiring an average of 126 GW of coal plants from the current capacity of 2,130 GW every year for the next 17 years, or the equivalent of about two plants a week.
Champenois described last year's coal plant expansion as an "anomaly," while other signs point to a "turnaround." “But countries that have coal plants that need to be decommissioned must do so more quickly, and countries that plan new coal plants must ensure that they are never built.”
Research from Capital Economics suggests China's appetite for coal power could shrink as low-carbon options accelerate.
The report found that the resurgence of hydropower this year, coupled with the expansion of wind, solar and nuclear power in China, could mark the start of a steady decline in demand for coal.
FORECASTS FOR 2024
Coal plant retirements are expected to accelerate in Europe and the United States this year, and fewer countries are starting construction of new plants, Champenois said.
The report recorded that fewer than 4GW of new projects were started outside China last year, a quarter of the annual average between 2015 and 2022 for the same group of countries.
(Extract from the eprcomunicazione press review)
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/aumento-produzione-energia-elettrica-carbone/ on Sat, 13 Apr 2024 06:01:07 +0000.