While Donald Trump spreads the myth that the decline of coal is due to a “war” launched by the Obama administration, the rest of the world continues to react to both increased concern over air quality and global warming, as well as the increasing availability of clean alternatives.
China's energy regulator has ordered 11 provinces to stop more than 100 coal-fired power projects, with a combined installed capacity of more than 100 gigawatts, its latest dramatic step to curb the use of fossil fuels in the world's top energy market.
Where will China get an additional 100 gigawatts (that’s 82 time-traveling Deloreans) worth of new production?
Putting the power projects on hold is a major step towards the government's effort to produce power from renewable sources such as solar and wind, and wean the country off coal, which accounts for the majority of the nation's power supply.
China cancelled a similar number of coal projects last year, and already has 130 gigawatts of solar and wind projects in the works in the next three years alone. That’s more wind and solar than the U.S. currently has in total.
Sharply declining prices mean that solar is poised to become the cheapest means of power generation.
Solar power is now cheaper than coal in some parts of the world. In less than a decade, it’s likely to be the lowest-cost option almost everywhere.