Bad news for gas suppliers: Asia's coal boom begins

30 400 7

The largest economics Asia is not about to give up coal, even though some have ambitious clean energy goals. China has approved 66,7 gigawatts (GW) of new coal-fired power plants to come online by 2025, while the region’s largest economy is building coal plants at a record pace to counter the effects of drought on hydroelectric power production, writes OilPrice columnist Alex Kimani.

Global natural gas traders betting the world’s largest and fastest-growing electricity market will drive global demand for the next few decades are about to be sorely disappointed. Asia’s largest economies are building three times as many coal-fired plants as gas-fired ones, according to the Global Energy Monitor (GEM), with coal accounting for about 45% of the region’s electricity generation.



Asia is also developing far more solar, wind, and hydropower capacity than gas. Just over 10 million megawatts (MW) of new capacity is under construction in Asia’s 1 largest economies, according to GEM, with coal and clean energy dominating the continent’s energy portfolio.

Solar energy accounts for 26%, or 270 MW of capacity under construction, while new coal capacity accounts for the second largest share at 24%, or just under 250 MW. Wind and hydroelectric power plants account for another 20% each, while gas-fired power plants account for just 7%, or 70 MW.

In other words, the coal boom in Asia is bad news for the global gas market. newsThe situation almost completely destroys the long-term plans of raw material suppliers regarding demand in the region, and therefore their own long-term vision of the entire industry and its profitability.
7 comments
Information
Dear reader, to leave comments on the publication, you must sign in.
  1. vlad127490
    vlad127490
    +3
    28 February 2025 10: 55
    What's bad about this for the Russian Federation? On the contrary, it's good. There is coal in the Russian Federation. Supplies to China from the Far East will be increased.
    1. Vadim M
      Vadim M
      +1
      28 February 2025 20: 35
      China has chosen Mongolia and Australia. They have a free trade agreement, which makes their coal more attractive. And transporting coal from Kuzbass to the Far East is a real pain in the ass. The railway is completely overloaded and there will be no improvement for a long time.
  2. Mongolor
    Mongolor
    +3
    28 February 2025 11: 33
    So it is not raw materials that need to be exported, but something more technological with high added value, and for this, develop your economy, and for this, plan it and have goals and work mechanisms and tools + science and education + demography
  3. Dmitry Volkov
    Dmitry Volkov
    +1
    28 February 2025 11: 51
    that's what I'm talking about, coal is the most high-calorie fuel, oil and gas are left alone, in the US they even made cars on coal dust, but it didn't work out, I think that making a stirling engine on coal in modern conditions is not difficult, and China, as always, is ahead of the rest of the world hi
    1. RakitinAxS
      RakitinAxS
      +1
      28 February 2025 15: 52
      Why the hell? The most calorific fuel per unit of mass is hydrogen. Accordingly, where the proportion of hydrogen in the fuel is higher, the relative calorific value is also higher. Thus, 1 kg of natural gas (methane) gives 50 MJ/kg, 1 kg of gasoline - 44 MJ/kg, coal - only 31 MJ/kg. Plus, there are a lot of environmental problems with coal, since the exhaust gases contain sulfur oxides, nitrogen (hello acid rain), toxic and weakly radioactive ash in large quantities... So coal is a fuel for the poor, for those who don't care about the environment.
  4. prior
    prior
    +2
    28 February 2025 11: 58
    In Asia they know for sure that you can’t put all your eggs in one basket, no matter how much various “well-wishers” try to persuade them otherwise.
  5. Vadim M
    Vadim M
    +2
    28 February 2025 20: 28
    Coal is much cheaper, although coal stations are more complex and more expensive than gas ones. In addition, there is a lot of coal in Asia and convenient logistics. But note that they are developing all types of generation. China has set a goal to build capacities significantly exceeding current needs. This will allow choosing which generation to prefer depending on the current situation.