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China Opens Surge of New Coal Power Plants in 2025 Despite Rapid Renewable Growth
China added a record 434 GW of wind and solar capacity in 2025 but approved 291 GW of coal power projects, risking higher emissions and energy overcapacity, experts said.
- On Feb 3, CREA and GEM reported China is building new coal plants while maintaining record renewable investments, despite recent growth in wind and solar capacity.
- Power shortages in 2021-22 and the 2022 drought in south-west China spooked provincial governments, prompting approvals for new coal projects after China's central government signals encouraged more permits.
- Data from CREA, GEM and the National Energy Administration show China installed a record 434 gigawatts of wind and solar while bringing 78 gigawatts of new coal capacity online in 2025.
- CREA and GEM warned that coal expansion risks locking in pollution and urged retiring inefficient plants in China's 15th Five‑Year Plan to prevent emissions from rising.
- The study recommends operational reforms such as putting part of the coal fleet offline as a reserve, as average utilisation at 47 per cent in 2025 was a record low, compared with about 70 per cent historically.
23 Articles
23 Articles
Beijing, China.- Despite China's expansion of solar and wind energy in 2025, the Asian giant opened many more coal-fired thermoelectrics than it had opened in recent years. That generated concern about whether the world's largest emitter will reduce carbon dioxide emissions enough to limit climate change. More than 50 large coal units - individual sets of boilers and turbines with a gigawatt generation capacity or more - were launched in 2025 co…
China’s solar energy set to overtake coal, new coal rush threatens ‘historic’ shift - EnviroNews - latest environment news, climate change, renewable energy
Solar power is set to overtake coal in China for the first time in 2026, according to the China Electricity Council. However, drawing on the latest analysis from Global Energy Monitor, environmental campaign group, 350.org, has warned that this historic turning point – which confirms renewables have decisively won on economic grounds – risks being undermined by China’s continued, record-level coal build-out. “The Chinese coal expansion is unnece…
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