Pakistan has said that 14 coal-fired power plants, based on Thar coal, with a combined capacity of 6000 MW, will be installed by 2025.
The explosion at NTPC’s Unchahar power plant, in which the death toll currently stands at 39, may have been caused by the malfunctioning of fans designed to maintain pressure inside the boiler.
Eight former US Federal energy regulators, including five former commission chairs, oppose the plan put forward by the Trump Administration to bolster coal-fired power plants, saying that the plan will raise energy prices and disrupt electricity markets.
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has released a report identifying 2.6 GW of coal capacity across just six Midwest states in the USA that are considered uneconomic, raising the possibility that these plants will be closed in the near future.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is likely to repeal the country’s Clean Power Plan instigated by the Obama Administration, saying that the call to switch to more natural gas and renewable generation exceeded the EPA’s authority.
The Indian state of Karnataka may be facing power shortages in the coming days, as the state’s coal-fired power plants face a critical drop in coal supply, with stocks available for just one day.
The Trump Administration in the USA has rejected a coal industry request for an emergency order protecting coal-fired power plants, a decision contrary to what one coal executive said the President personally promised him.
Over the last two years, coal consumption in India has slowed to its lowest level in two decades, despite the economy growing at an annual 7 per cent.
The Pakistan Government has said that the first phase of the Thar coal-fired power projects will begin commercial operations by June 2019, about four months ahead of its deadline.
Regulators in Mississippi, USA, are drafting a plan for the utility Southern Company to use only natural gas at its clean coal power plant in Kemper County, and that it not be allowed to recoup the cost of the expensive coal portion of the power plant by charging ratepayers.