India, Indonesia, Bangladesh & Vietnam host to most under-construction coal projects worldwide: Report

India, Indonesia, Bangladesh & Vietnam host to most under-construction coal projects worldwide: Report

Subject: Environment

Section: Climate change

Context:

• Global Energy Monitor (GEM), a San Francisco–based non-governmental organization which catalogues fossil fuel and renewable energy projects worldwide, has released a report ​​Global Coal Plant Tracker.
• The organisation’s Global Coal Plant Tracker is an online database that maps old coal-fired units and new proposals since 2010, of 30 megawatts and larger.
• GEM was founded in 2007, earlier known as Coalswarm.

Findings of the report:

• China accounts for more than 95 per cent of the coal plant capacity beginning construction in 2023. ​​In 2022, China was the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions.
• In the first nine months of 2023, 18.3 GW of coal capacity moved from being proposed to being shelved or cancelled. These projects were primarily in 10 countries:Bosnia and Herzegovina (-800 MW), Botswana (-600 MW), Brazil (-340 MW), Indonesia (-2,260 MW), Laos (-1,000 MW), Mongolia (-5,280 MW), Serbia (-1,350 MW), Türkiye (-5,630 MW), Ukraine (-660 MW), and Vietnam (-450 MW).
  • Coal plant projects are considered “shelved” when no updates or developments have been identified on the proposed projects for at least two years. The projects are “cancelled” when either a cancellation announcement was made or no updates or developments have been identified for at least four years.
• These cancellations were accompanied by 15.3 GW of entirely new proposals under consideration in India (8,640 MW), Indonesia (2,500 MW), Kazakhstan (4,078 MW), and Mongolia (50 MW).
• Outside China, Southeast Asia and South Asia have the highest capacity under construction. The report said India (31.6 GW), Indonesia (14.5 GW), Bangladesh (5.8 GW), and Vietnam (5.4 GW) make up 84 per cent of the 67 GW under construction excluding China.

Coal power plants outside China:

• Construction on new coal plants outside of China hit a record low since 2015 of less than 2 gigawatts (GW),below the nearly 16 GW annual average for the same set of countries in the last eight years.
• There are 110 gigawatts (GW) of coal power capacity under consideration in 32 countries other than China, amounting to 131 coal projects.
  • Ten countries comprise 83 per cent of the total capacity proposed, led by three countries, namely India, Bangladesh, and Indonesia.

Coal power projects in India:

• The third quarter of the year saw projects appearing or progressing in six different states, namely Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Uttar Pradesh.
• The coal plants include Adani Raigarh Thermal Power Plant, Anpara-E Power Station (MUNPL), Binjkote Power Station, Ib Valley Thermal Power Station, Kajurda Power Station, Koderma Thermal Power Station, Raikheda Power Station, and Satpura Thermal Power Station.
• Four non-captive Indian coal plant projects (4.5 GW) have received permits in the first nine months of 2023, up from zero in all of 2022.

Source: DownToEarth