Sian Crampsie
China’s National Energy Administration has issued an order suspending the development of more than a hundred coal-fired projects.
The order will help China to meet targets it has set on installed coal-fired capacity as well as tackle air pollution and cut an excess of generating capacity. Around half of the capacity affected by the order was already under construction.
Altogether, the projects affected by the order amount to 120 GW, and are in addition to cancellations announced in 2016.
China stated in its 13th five-year plan (2016-2020) that it planned to cap installed coal capacity at 1100 GW by 2020. Its current installed coal-fired capacity is around 920 GW.
Some 54 GW of the capacity affected by the latest order is under construction and includes dozens of projects in the coal-rich northern and western regions of the country.
China is also grappling with an oversupply of capacity caused by reduced energy demand and an increase in electricity generation from renewables.
In October 2016 the Chinese government halted construction on over 30 large-scale coal-fired projects with a combined capacity of 17 GW.
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