China scraps planned construction of 85 coal-fired power plants

• 7 years ago (2017-01-17)
• David Flin

Asia 846 Coal 273

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China has announced that it is suspending construction of 85 planned coal-fired power plants in a bid to meet a government coal capacity target laid out in its latest plan for social and economic development. This follows the investment of £300 billion by the Chinese Government into the renewable energy sector.

The National Energy Administration (NEA) announced that the projects would no longer go ahead as part of measures outlined in its Five Year Plan.

Beijing had committed to a coal capacity cap of 1100 GW. However, the new builds would have taken that figure to 1250 GW, breaching the Government-set limit.

Last year, China tried to manage its coal overcapacity by introducing a number of measures, including a traffic light system for coal power station approvals and cancelling plants that were under construction.