Asia's installed capacity of coal-fired plants 2010-2016, by select country
Coal-powered plants in China
In East Asia, the cost of proposed coal power plants totaled some 540 billion U.S. dollars between 2010 and 2015 . As new plants are being built, some of the older, smaller, and less efficient coal-fired plants are being closed. Between 2010 and the beginning of 2016, China had installed almost 300 megawatts of capacity in new coal powered plants - comparatively, India installed just under 100 megawatts during this time. The coal consumption in China totaled some 1.9 billion metric tons of oil equivalent in 2015.
China is currently the largest consumer of coal-powered energy in the world by far, with 880,000 megawatts of installed coal power plants as of 2016. However, the time span for coal power plants to be active (the utilization rate) has begun to decrease in countries like China and India, which may indicate a disproportionately smaller sectoral increase of greenhouse gas emissions in comparison to capacity additions. In China, a deceleration in economic growth and the development of energy efficiency and renewable energy targets are causing the coal industry to shrink. China’s ambitious renewable energy goals are non-compatible with its coal-fired power generation. Coal has also been identified as one of the main culprits of concerning air pollution levels in the region, increasing public opposition to new mines and plants.