One measure of the state of the coal power plant industry is plant cancellations. This refers to cases when a sponsor announces that it has canceled a project, or when a project fails to advance and then quietly disappears from company documents. There also are projects where sufficient evidence is found to indicate that a project is no longer moving forward, but not enough to declare it definitively cancelled. Such projects can be thought of as “shelved.”1
The number of canceled and shelved coal projects through 2022 is heavily concentrated in Asia: China (603 GW canceled), India (604 GW), Turkey (93 GW), Vietnam (63 GW), and Indonesia (53 GW). Outside of Asia, the greatest cancellations have been in the United States (28 GW), Poland (25 GW), and Germany (20 GW).
China’s investment in coal is a study in contrasts. It is one of the few countries that is building substantial new coal capacity due to its abundant coal reserves and very favorable government policies. In 2022, China was approving permits for two coal plants per week.2 Yet China decommissioned 70.45 gigawatts (GW) of coal-fired plants from 2013 through 2023, far and away the greatest closure rate in the world.3 Most plants were older, smaller, and less efficient than new builds. Coal plant closures were also driven by China’s rapid new investment in solar and wind power.
Due to continued competition from natural gas and renewable resources, 23% of the 200,568 megawatts (MW) of coal-fired capacity currently operating in the United States in 2022 will be retired by the end of 2029. Between 2012 and 2021, an average of 9,450 MW of coal-fired capacity was retired yearly.4
1 Global Energy Monitor, “Global Coal Plant Tracker, July 2023 release,” https://globalenergymonitor.org/projects/global-coal-plant-tracker/download-data/
2 Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, “China permits two new coal power plants per week in 2022,” February 27, 2023, https://energyandcleanair.org/publication/china-permits-two-new-coal-power-plants-per-week-in-2022/
3 Howe, Colleen and Ella Cao, “In China’s coal country, full steam ahead with new power plants despite climate pledges,” Reuters, November 30, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/chinas-coal-country-full-steam-ahead-with-new-power-plants-despite-climate-2023-11-30/
4 U.S. Energy Information Administration, “Nearly a quarter of the operating U.S. coal-fired fleet scheduled to retire by 2029,” November 7, 2022, https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=54559
