China Says It's Going to Use More Coal, With Capacity Set to Grow 19%
- Non-fossil-fuel power generation will grow by about 48%: NEA
- Nation’s total capacity to rise 31% to 2,000 gigawatts by 2020
Chinese workers commute as smoke billows from a coal fired power plant in Shanxi.
Photographer: Kevin Frayer/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
China’s coal power generation capacity will grow as much as 19 percent over the next five years even as the world’s biggest energy consumer expands use of non-fossil fuels.
While coal-fired plant capacity will increase, it will still remain below 1,100 gigawatts, National Energy Administration Chief Engineer Han Shui said Monday in a webcast posted on the agency’s website. Non-fossil power will increase 48 percent to about 770 gigawatts over the five-year period through 2020 as total capacity expands by 31 percent to 2,000 gigawatts.