China: coal saves the country from the hydroelectric production crisis
China is investing record amounts in renewable energy sources, but continues to rely heavily on coal to meet growing energy demand.
During the first half of this year, coal production, coal imports and coal-fired electricity generation increased and offset a significant decline in power generation from China's huge hydroelectric capacity due to insufficient rainfall and drought.
China is the global leader in renewable energy spending, but it is also one of the few major economies still approving and building coal-fired capacity. Energy security and the need for stable power generation during peak demand to support a growing economy and supply stability precede emissions concerns.
China has already met its goal of having more installed electricity capacity from non-fossil fuels than fossil fuels ahead of schedule, with 50.9 percent of its energy capacity now coming from non-fossil fuel sources. In 2021, Chinese authorities said they would target renewable energy to surpass fossil fuel installed capacity by 2025.
China is unmatched globally in spending on renewable energy, investing in increasing its solar and wind power capacity.
So far this year, renewables have helped partially offset the crippled supply from hydroelectric power generation, but coal has saved the day, as other forms of renewables haven't sufficed anyway.
China's total electricity generation increased by 205 thousand gigawatt-hours (GWh), or 5.2% year-on-year, between January and June 2023 . Unfortunately, hydroelectric power generation plunged 23% to its lowest level in eight years as the main hydroelectric provinces, Sichuan and Yunnan in the southwest, saw low rainfall and water levels in reservoirs, according to data from China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) compiled by Reuters market analyst John Kemp.
Wind and solar power helped offset, to some extent, the slump in hydroelectric power generation, but it was primarily coal-fired electricity generation that offset the decline in hydroelectric power generation. The share of thermal power generation, mostly from coal, rose to 71% of China's electricity generation in the first six months of 2023, up from 69% in the same period last year, according to Kemp's estimates.
Nearly three-quarters of global hydropower capacity additions in 2022 took place in China, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its latest report on global hydropower. China added 24 gigawatts (GW) of hydroelectric capacity in 2022, as this energy source remains an integral part of China's 14th Five-Year Renewable Energy Plan released in 2022. However, global capacity utilization remained below historic levels due to persistent droughts in hydropower-rich countries such as Canada, China, Turkey and the United States, as well as in Western Europe, the IEA said.
Precipitation in China's Yunnan province fell by more than 60 percent annually during the first four months of 2023, according to the South China Morning Post.
At the same time, China's coal production has increased from last year and coal imports have surged, while top officials are meeting with power companies and the state-owned grid operator to stress the importance of keeping power going through the summer, when China too is hoping to see its economy rebound from lower-than-expected growth in the second quarter.
China's coal production increased by 4.4% in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period of 2022. China's coal imports have increased year-to-date, resulting in record levels of coal inventories at power plants.
This has made Chinese authorities more optimistic about coping with the hot summer without energy rationing or factory closures.
No new coal-fired plants have started construction across the OECD and the EU since 2019, while the second half of 2022 saw the largest-ever increase in new coal-fired plants in China, climate change think tank E3G said in a report earlier this year.
“China's rapid investment in new coal-fired plants runs counter to the significant global trend away from coal,” E3G said, adding that “the significant scale of China's coal expansion plans directly threatens the Paris Agreement's 1.5C temperature goal.”
As China places security of energy supply above all other considerations, and despite massive expansion of solar and wind capacity, the world's second-largest economy will rely on coal for years to come.
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The article China: coal saves the country from the hydroelectric production crisis comes from Scenari Economici .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/cina-il-carbone-salva-il-paese-dalla-crisi-della-produzione-idroelettrica/ on Tue, 25 Jul 2023 16:47:04 +0000.