Coal plants being shut down in Bejing to fight pollution
Smog over Beijing, China (source: flickr/ gmetrail, creative commons)
Francisco Rojas
25 Mar 2015
Coal is being replaced by renewables and natural gas in Beijing in a growing trend in China to cut carbon emissions.
Pollution in China is always a hot topic and now, coal seems to be finally on the government’s sights in order to address environmental and health issues in the country. In a recent post in Renewable Energy World, it is stated that China has plants to shut down coal plants in favour of natural gas and renewables. According to Bloomberg, “The capital city will shutter China Huaneng Group Corp.’s 845-megawatt power plant in 2016, after last week closing plants owned by Guohua Electric Power Corp. and Beijing Energy Investment Holding Co., according to a statement Monday on the website of the city’s economic planning agency. A fourth major power plant, owned by China Datang Corp., was shut last year.The facilities will be replaced by four gas-fired stations with capacity to supply 2.6 times more electricity than the coal plants.”
Renewables will also play a bigger role in the future of energy generation in China, more particularly,there are increasing efforts for geothermal heating in China, as well as in Beijing. As reported earlier, Sinopec is looking into developing geothermal heating and power generation.
To read Bloomberg’s full article in Renewable Energy World, please follow the link.
Source: Renewable Energy World
