China approved
nearly 10 gigawatts
of new coal-fired power
generation projects
in the first quarter
of 2020.
That's roughly equal
to ALL of the coal projects
approved last year !
Perhaps a pull ahead of
infrastructure spending
to help restart the economy
after the Wuhan Flu epidemic ?
China has plentiful supply
of coal, feeding the country's
growing economy.
But overly aggressive coal
power plant building sent
many producers into the red
a few years ago.
The surge in approvals
follows several years
of relatively weak activity
for such new construction
as China tried to balance
excess supply with demand.
In the first nine months of 2019,
46% of the fossil fuel-powered
operations of five of the country's
largest electricity producers
continued to lose money,
even as another 30 GW
of new power generation
capacity was installed.
The government had
scaled back, and even
halted, many new
coal-powered projects
in recent years.
That trend reversed
in first quarter 2020,
with six major new
coal-fired projects
approved , that could
add 9.96 GW of capacity.
Four new projects were in
the coal-rich area
of Shaanxi province,
one was in South China's
Guangdong Province
and one was in Inner Mongolia.
China pointed out that about
10 GW of older coal-fired
capacity had typically been
retired annually in recent years.
After obtaining approval,
new projects typically take
about two years to build.