Shuozhou coal power plant. by Kleineolive
By Jo Nova
It’s almost like China doesn’t give a toss about climate change, eh?
Just quietly, while everyone was gushing tears over a two year extension to a fifty year old Australian plant, China added a gargantuan number of brand new coal plants.
Australia’s total coal fleet stands at 26 gigawatts in capacity. Yet China added three times that capacity in a single year.
Overall, China brought 78 gigawatts of new coal power capacity online in 2025, a sharp uptick from previous years, according to the joint report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air and Global Energy Monitor.
The graph below represents how many gigawatts were added, but only in the largest turbines size. China added 52 gigawatts of energy from one gigawatt units. Presumably the rest of the 78GW came from smaller sized turbines. And here’s the thing, while everyone will pretend this is the peak and tell us “it will decline soon”, another 83 gigawatts of coal plants has already started construction, and another 161GW is newly proposed or applied for.
These coal plants are apparently only being used at 50% capacity, but the thing is, if China ever needs to ramp up its energy supply, like say, in a time of war, it could double it in days.
But China is just replacing the old dirty coal plants, right?
That’s what they want you to think. See the tiny black bars, top left, marked “Retired”
All the coal power Australia has built in the last 50 years, China just effectively added that in the last four months.
According to a research report published on February 3, more than 50 large coal-fired power plants will be connected to the grid in 2025. These are individual boiler and turbine sets with a capacity of at least one gigawatt. In the ten years prior, the number was less than 20 per year. Depending on consumption, one gigawatt can supply several hundred thousand to over two million households with electricity. — Euronews
Euronews asks — if wind and solar are booming in China …why is it building so many new coal plants?
The answer apparently is that there were blackouts in 2021-22, and it takes a few years to get through the paperwork accelerate the construction. (Thinking about the timing, unless they can build coal plants in three years, they must have already had a set of coal plants in the approval or construction phase, and they pushed them through faster than expected to create such a boom). Supposedly this is that wave of new plants in response to those blackouts.
h/t to Eric Worrall at WUWT, and Pierre Gosselin at NoTricksZone, plus Leith van Onselen on Macroeconomics.
PS: For those in Perth — I’ll be speaking on Wednesday night next week in Belmont. More details to follow on that soon.
Source of Graphs: CREA: Global Energy Monitor
People have to understand that the anti-energy movement has nothing whatsoever to do with the environment but is purely about the destruction of the West aided by the useful idiots of the Left.
If it was truly about supposed anthropogenic global warming, why would an advanced economic, manufacturing, military, AI, space, nuclear energy power, nuclear weapons superpower like China be exempt from CO2 emissions?
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UN Official admitted it;
https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/climate-change-scare-tool-to-destroy-capitalism/
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And this:
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WEF – Build Back Better (COVID-19 WEF agenda) and the statement that we will own nothing and be happy
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The good news is that HELE coal plants need low suphur, low ash coal. That means Indonesian and Australian coal.
Ofcourse our government will just sell them the coal mines.
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SA is heading into an election with the latest polling suggesting (The Australian) that the Liberals could get ZERO seats.
Partly because One Nation outpolls them, esp. in rural and semi-rural seats.
Partly because Malinauskus has run an event of various events coming e.g. the return of GOP bike races to Adelaide. And lots of TV adds about the nuclear subs. new houses (about) to be built, new hospital bed (about) to be built etc. Takes people in.
No mention of a reliable and cheaper electricity supply.
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In other words lots of “free stuff” for the ignorant masses.
No thought whatsoever about who’s paying for it.
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If One Nation had the numbers already to form the major opposition party as the Coalition now is despite the poor polling results that LINO left influencers have attracted by displays of party disunity, hopefully now ended with Federal Opposition Leader Angus Taylor elected by two thirds of Liberal MPs recently, One Nation would have a springboard to government that is solid and not polling results based.
My criticism is not directed at One Nation as such, but in well over thirty years they have remained a mostly Senate based minor party and for a couple of terms of government were a force in Queensland State Parliament 1990-2000 period. That ended after about two terms or six years when most of their State MPs failed to get elected.
Right now in Federal Parliament One Nation has only one House of Representatives MP, former National Party MP Barnaby Joyce plus a few Senators including Pauline Hanson. As a minor party they are in numbers closest to the Greens Party Senate numbers and therefore a very long way to become a major force.
The risks of One Nation inadvertently via their voting supporters and preferential vote distribution system helping the Labor Party to be returned to Federal and State governments is worryingly high
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They are the same people who previously elected Lefist “Moderate” Sussssan Ley.
Why should we trust them now to have conservative policies?
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Indicating that many left leaning influenced by the LINO left are no longer being influenced.
Note the frustration in body language and comments from the ghost and LINO creator
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Give me sensible policy and you can label it how you like. Conservative, liberal, moderate, centrist, anything you like. Would be nice to have sensible and effective government.
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I appreciate your Fido-like loyalty to the Libs (I guess), but still they offer no policies that people will vote for. Already Taylor and Hume (a nagging, woke lefty) are sliding away from the real issues.
Which are: mass immigration and Net Zero/energy/AGW.
I have been told by a colleague in Adelaide, and I have no reason to disbelieve him, that the ON HTV leaflets that he has seen are headed “End Mass Immigration”.
In my view, the Libs don’t want to win, they just want the Teal seats back. They think that those upper middle class seats are theirs by Divine Right, and they want them back. A secure Opposition seat with a good indexed retirement pension is a nice life – without all the nasty bother of any actual governing responsibility.
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Exactly.
And that applies to the Libs both State and Federal. Also, as I’ve said before, the function of the “Moderate” faction appears to be to keep the Libs OUT of power which they are successfully doing.
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Why do none of the media outlets ever print or show this information to the general public. This includes SKY NEWS, ABC, channels 7, 9, 10. SBS.
Only very rarely is this type of information given more than 30 seconds of exposure at no earlier than 2 am.
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“Why do none of the media outlets ever print or show this information to the general public”.
Complicity?
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I have not voted Liberal since retiring early 2000s but have supported the Coalition because I was well aware of the rise of the LINO left parliamentary and state executives.
Because no matter what Union controlled Labor, now dominated by Trotskyite (Leon Trotsky Marxist) and Marxist far left politics (see ALP National Constitution references to democratic socialism and Fabian Society being Australian ALP club for membership)
Most Australians are in the political centre, and earlier the Labor sensible centre left dominated the far left, LINO being centre left or further to the left.
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I would say that a significant number of ex LNP supporters have simply stopped listening to the LNP (myself included). We just don’t trust the LNP, it’s that simple. Yes, they aren’t as bad as the Labor party but that is like choosing whether you would prefer to step in a cow pat or horse droppings.
Any respect or tolerance I once had for politicians has long evaporated.
The 2 majors have been in power for over a century.
As the old saying goes…”I’m not happy Jan”. 🙂
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Unfortunately there is no viable third option, some people have tried to establish another major party but have failed, even One Nation has struggled to achieve more numbers on seats in Parliaments than they have right now. And as I posted their best period was in QLD but that lasted two terms and thereafter gradually lost all lower house seats which begs the question, why is that?
It has been explained to me that without the combined Liberal & National Coalition, the Labor side with Union backing via big donations regularly, “faceless people” from the unions, union membership labour supplementing Labor branch workers during campaigns, that Labor is organisationally and financially better off considerably, Labor would never be in opposition.
The factors are many but population is a factor that is changing and why Labor concentrates on Immigration intake and recruitment of ethnic groups as branch members.
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We’d probably be better off without any bloody government at all.
At least we’d not have to listen to lies,BS. Obfuscation or fantasy stories all day!
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One Nation is at risk of becoming a victim of their own success, if they don’t have a clear idea of their agenda and the practical steps to making that a reality and how to deal with a toxic public service that will be less than grunted at their arrival. Trumps first term comes to mind.
I read last night they are polling slightly ahead of Labor in Vic, leading up to State elections in November.
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Leftist energy policy reminds me of the goth kids from the 80s – they tried to be all cool and edgy but were REALLY more interested in self-harm.
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Our governments are acting in a truly treasonous way.
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An insult to Gotland Island, now part of Sweden and past history of explorer/raiders known as Vikings, Germanic Tribes of Scandinavia, Roman Empire defeated in what is now Germany and named Germania by the Romans.
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Not many goth pollies out there. Pity.
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So China builds 52 BASE-LOAD plants in 2025 and our treasonous left wing donkeys couldn’t care less, but want Aussies to destroy our east Aussie environment to build more unreliable, toxic W & S ASAP?
Will the Aussie voters even start to wake up before the next Federal election?
And if the SA election follows the polls I think the rest of the country could be lost and could take until 2040 to start to recover.
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With due consideration for Labor known incompetence and left leaning socialism based governance, and the increasing number of were hidden acts of incompetence and party political behaviour and actions, present examples ISIS families passports scandal and Union VIC alleged misappropriation of taxpayers monies with Labor VIC apparently ignoring it according to media reports, if Labor continues to govern like that would there be a recovery even by 2040?
It takes a very long time for an incoming new government to reduce public service employment numbers and to generally manage incompetence inherited.
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Never attribute to “incompetence’, that which is CLEARLY MALICE.
Vice versa sometime applies.
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The agreement is that China can build all the energy plant it wants until 2030, and after that it is up to China to say what it will or will not do.
It is an agreed position.
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How many signatory nations to the 2016 Paris Agreement are adhering to their emissions reduction targets, or bothering with the Paris decisions at all?
Net zero emissions was the next UN demand at Glasgow COP 2021 and now if not already most member nations are unwilling to proceed with what is obviously wrecking economic prosperity.
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I don’t know the answer to your question, but China is sticking to its side of the deal.
I do know that punitive measures for non- compliant behaviour are being insisted on by the EU when it signs a trade agreement.
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Yet China breaks trade agreement terms and conditions, example COVID-19 virus and the request from several leaders of nations including PM Morrison Australia, that resulted in China imposing restrictions and bans on goods exported to China from Australia regardless of the rules.
Recently the Australian Government imposed penalties on China coated steel roll formed sections deemed to be subject to dumping.
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When government policy, backed by a largely-compliant media, opposes investment in the renewal of the energy system that gave Australia, for generations, some of the cheapest energy costs world-wide, while pushing futile renewables alternatives, the resultant increases in energy costs are unavoidable. For what purpose? Surely, vast hectares of short-lived solar panels are in no way preferable to the pristine food-producing landscapes they infest! Wake up, Australia!
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Meanwhile in Australia delusional leftists of Teals Greens Labor side of politics continue to claim that China is building renewables as quickly as China can.
sarc
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Number of Communist/Socialist Australians who hate coal that have been and/or are picketing and protesting Communist China’s coal usage outside their embassy in Canberra or at their (5) consulates in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, and Adelaide from 1959 to February 20, 2026?
Zero – None – Nada
Number of Communist/Socialist Americans who hate coal that have been and/or are picketing and protesting Communist China’s coal usage outside their embassy in Washington DC or their (4) consulates in San Francsisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City?
Zero – None – Nada
Anyone find that curious given that all those (11) locations have no shortage of Far Left dimwits and know nothings?
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The NSW Labor Government to their credit have of course recognised the deteriorating supply and pricing issues relating to electricity supply which is primarily a state area of responsibility, and therefore Federal funding grants apply at times and Federal legislation influences, example Transition and RET is Federal Labor legislation that the Abbott Coalition tried to repeal but were blocked in the Senate 2013/14/15.
Premier Minns and Ministers negotiated with the owners of the state’s largest coal power station, Eraring with 2,800 MW Installed/Nameplate Capacity, to extend operating years and recently those owners announced another extension of time without state support funding or compensation because the reconditioned machinery has returned their asset into a profitable electricity supplier.
QLD LNP have cancelled the State Labor plans to close down/retire all state owned power stations for similar reasons.
The Coalition via Angus Taylor have just announced or reconfirmed support for all existing technologies to supply electricity and therefore including coal power stations and plan to boost capacity which I assume is based on the Dutton Plan that also retained existing technology but proposed building five nuclear power stations and two nuclear generator plants (SMR based) on existing locations to replace closed power stations generator capacity and to add more capacity. I understand that based on the wind and solar approximately up to 25 years operating period before removal and replacement is necessary would be an owner decision as to rebuilding or abandoning the location.
The first “wind farm” Codrington VIC is about to close after 25 years of operating, the owners announced in 2025. And that the wind turbines and foundations will be removed but not replaced because the owners do not believe replacement would be cost effective
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The foundations will not be removed.
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I suppose the VIC Labor socialists will ignore, or later use taxpayer’s monies to remove the foundations?
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Leaving those bases in the ground is a cardinal sin.
There should have been rules in place that required operators of the site to “clean” it up when closing the site down. By law money should have been set aside to do just this.
Disgusting.
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Here is real life examples of how investors escape from wind businesses.
I hope our land owners have secured removal at the end of the land leases
https://stopthesethings.com/2017/03/13/born-lucky-stars-align-perfectly-for-pms-son-with-mammoth-bet-on-wind-power-outfit-infigen/
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Codrington was the first wind system to be privately owned. The first wind system in Australia was a state-owned system at Esperance WA, and it too has closed, after only 15 year’s operation.
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I almost dropped dead listening to the BBC the other day. They actually mentioned China’s vast emissions. A topic steadfastly avoided in the past. Then I gathered where it was going…. Yes of course, it was just the set up to claiming that they are now supposedly a renewables super power. Much of the UK media has been carrying the same, obviously centrally coordinated, story in the last few days.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-8d2b6944-4f7a-45b4-96fd-2d92499ff97d
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We’ve had the same here in Australia. Bleeding heart stories about how many Chinese workers were facing unemployment due to coal plants being closed down in certain areas. But completely ignored the fact that these new ones had been built and more to come. Lots of photos of cooling towers showing water vapour but insinuating that it was smoke. Also, that the jobs lost would not be missed because it was a dangerous dirty job. Usual stuff. Probably a template story that went out across the world.
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Remember also that unlike wind, solar and Big Battery plantations, which are semi-disposable, short-lived installations, coal plant has a life of at least 50 years, potentially much longer.
The plant built by China today will be producing for them inexpensive, reliable power for at least another half century.
It’s unlikely they would follow the example of the Stupid Country, Australia, and blow up their inexpensive and reliable power plants and pretend to replace them with expensive and unreliable subsidy-harvesting machinery.
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It’s a pity that Bowen Labor, Teals and Greens criticise coal fired power stations as too old and breaking down too often ignoring that they remain the constant electricity source while wind and solar with battery back up first option for a few hours cannot supply constantly as required.
We understand the original transition ban on fossil fuel and to phase out coal power stations but many voters and particular left leaning renewables advocates do not understand that machinery, subject to cost-benefit analysis, can be maintained and repaired and even major components can be replaced. A few years ago for example a generator from Loy Yang VIC was transported by road to Port Melbourne to be shipped to Siemens Germany for reconditioning, a spare had been installed to replace that generator unit.
Also not understood or maybe ignored is that nuclear technology power stations and smaller generator plants now have US Licensing to operate for 80 years subject to certification inspections, and a provision to extend to 100 years of operation. As compared to the life cycles of wind turbines and solar panels of up to 25 years on average. And that for every power station generator unit, example 500 MW capacity, a huge area of land spread out all over the countryside and hills, with dedicated feeder transmission lines from each location to main transmission lines, expensive firming support equipment and so on.
I read a comment from an engineer with vast experience in nuclear reactor design and nuclear power stations including working in China on those projects, and elsewhere, that China has in recent times converted a couple of coal fired technology power stations to nuclear technology successfully.
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Surely the average life of wind and solar is not 25 yrs? That would be saying some are going to be lasting 35 yrs?
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The anti-energy lobby points to China’s intermittent energy installations but don’t understand that they only build them for virtue signaling and publicity/sales purposes.
As the world’s largest suppliers of wind and solar plantations which have no purpose but to destroy the West, it wouldn’t be good salesmanship if they weren’t pretending to use them themselves.
Also, don’t forget a good proportion of China’s “renewables” comes from hydro, which is actually a legitimate (when properly conceived and managed, not SH2) inexpensive and reliable form of energy like coal, gas and nuclear. China’s hydro is 13.5% of electricity from all sources.
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See UN Lima Agreement, Agenda-21 now Agenda-30 and emissions trading schemes Kyoto, Paris, Glasgow net zero 2021 and others.
And including Free Trade Agreements also to support developing nations that includes China to gain economic prosperity by transferring the wealth from manufacturing from developed nations. POTUS Trump opposed this long before he entered the presidential competition originally. He understands that China in particular practise dumping of government subsidised manufactured products into lucrative markets and USA being the largest of all. China builds strength from economic success and related revenue streams, they gain foreign currency etc.
No need to wonder why China was granted more time to implement a Paris type emissions reduction target, and have effectively ignored their future timing indication ever since, and continue to build more power stations.
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Farmerbraun – your neighbours?
When it comes to the eternal search for the mythical green hydrogen there’s a sucker born every nanosecond:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/587396/if-the-stars-align-boom-nga-wairiki-ngati-apa-bets-on-green-energy
“If the stars align, boom! It could go. If they don’t align, it may fall over”.
Yep, betting and gambling your family’s inheritance is like that. Won’t somebody think of the birds!
Meanwhile Ch!na…
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Another day on earth . . .
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Here’s another example of their so called “clean, green energy” from Sky News and Dr Anne Webster always does a great accurate job in a few minutes putting in the boot.
What an environmental mess and overall a waste of billions of $ around Australia and unfortunately lots more to come.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecP1gxw5e_U
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A rare case of a politician who has a clue.
I wonder if she reads this site?
Female, but a merit placement, not DEI.
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Good one!
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Perhaps we can buy coal from China and we sell them our brown coal? We would burn their coal instead. Surely that would be net zero.
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At bit like the coal power plant DRAX in the UK now running on American wood chips. It’s not that the CO2 has changed, but that the source of the CO2 has changed. CO2 from modern trees is acceptable but CO2 from old trees is pollution.
How much money has that conversion from coal to wood cost where the UK has gone from using ‘free’ local coal to paying for huge quantities of US wood.
Does any actual scientist in the world think that makes sense? ( I would exclude Computer scientist, Social scientist, behavioural scientist, zoologist, botanist, herpetologist, or Climate Scientist)
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Not wood chips, environmentally friendly and green biomass
sarc
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Why not lawn clippings? Dry them with the heat of the furnace. Free grass catchers for everyone in the UK.
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Various sugar cane processing mills in Northern NSW and in QLD use cane after crushing as a fuel source for various purposes
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A bit like Ireland where they import 20,000 tons of peat bog (and guess what they do with it, despite the smoke etc). Apparently the smell of burning peat bog is nostalgic to many Irish.
Irish peat bogs can’t be used – environmental rules.
But the good news is that those tons burnt aren’t counted in Irish emissions figures because they are imports. (And they aren’t counted in the exporting countries).
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Apparently brown coal is so cheap because it can’t be loaded on ships and sold to the international market. It spontaneously burns in the hold, and so the ship hold has to be air-tight sealed and filled with CO2 gas or something non-flammable. Or the brown coal has to be dried out before it can be put on the ship.
What we should do is burn our brown coal in the La Trobe Valley, and use it for cheap electricity so we can export even more black coal while it’s still worth something and before someone gets a Fusion reactor going.
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Brown coal is about 66% water. Squeeze that out and the calorific content is the same as black coal.
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I would have thought that’d be obvious – to provide the energy to make new solar panels and wind turbines!
😆
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How DUMB and DUMBER is Australia and Western world right now. Only Trump is the bright light amongst the feral woke gullible Western leftist loony useful idiots leftist controlled by China…..Enjoy sharia law because that’s the next step in the slow destruction of the loony Western world…
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It’s remarkable. Whatever the decision of the UN and governments and Labor/Green, Teal and Woke politicians, every decision seems to direct cash and business to China.
And no one ever publicly criticizes China. Isn’t that a little suspicious?
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Politicians here are probably terrified of offending China and causing a major Trade War like Scott Morrison did when he asked for details about Covid. We depend on China for far too many things and too much trade to have the freedom to criticize it.
Also, we have no idea how many pollies here are quietly paid off or extorted by the CCP.
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Just wondering if it’s crossed President Trump’s mind to extend his “ Peace Board “ agenda to replace the UN.
There appears to be plenty of support for the possibilities. With sufficient support, both moral & financial from the western world & many developing countries th UN would wither &; die. C’mon Donald give it a whirl!!
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More than a little. I’ve been banging this drum since around 2006 or so, after doing business in China and quickly realising that the dodgy business practices they employ couldn’t possibly work without willing participants here in Oz and elsewhere. Which then leads one to wonder, why?
Corruption is a big part, whether it’s actual bribes, VIP treatment of gullible public servants or good old sexual favours.
I was horrified when I saw how many Chinese scientists were allowed to roam the labs and corridors of our research centres and few people are as naive and trusting as a scientist desperate to be invited to a prestigious conference in Shanghai.
And then of course there is good old espionage, some of it requiring little or no risk, or effort, because foolish Australian, American and European corporations happily ‘collaborated’ with China in return for access to their huge and growing market, building facilities there and employing Chinese staff in high-level roles. Easy peasy.
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The Chinese know how to create energy 24 x 7 days all year round.
We could do with some of that, but our government knows better!
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Unfortunately, no one sees the end of politics, but what will the Chinese use this extra power for? My guess, they need the power for data centers. And run ai. Each one runs on the power of a small city, and needs to run uninterrupted.
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