Joanne Nova
A science presenter, writer, speaker and former TV host. Author of The Skeptic’s Handbook.
China pumped out 78GW of coal fired plants last year, which got me wondering why there was such a boom, especially since the current Chinese coal plants are only working at a bit over half their real capacity.
Apparently, the boom was instigated after widespread blackouts in late 2020 and 2021 shocked officials into ordering a major ramp up in coal plants to make sure it wouldn’t happen again. By May 2021, China was telling the world that, because solar and wind power were intermittent or unstable, “they must use coal power ... for flexible adjustment”. A few months later, things were still dire, and two thirds of the nation was rationing power.
The thing is though, 2021 was only four years before the big boom of 2025. Could they really build so many plants in so little time? Well, yes. Some of those plants were presumably already “in the pipeline” but many were only given permits in 2022.
The plant Yancheng-Binhai, in the satellite photo above, for example, started construction of two 1000MW units in 2023 and yet they were operating by June 2026. These two units were added to a site which had two units already in operation, which makes things easier because they already have the transmission lines and other infrastructure – but these are ultra-super critical advanced plants. Australia hasn’t even built one of these modern efficient designs, and new coal plants at all since 2009. Soon we’ll forget how…
There are plenty of other examples:
- Lufeng Jiahuwan Plants Units 3–4: 2 × 1,000 MW USC. Approved September 2022; first boiler-foundation concrete poured November 2022. They were intended for operation in 2024–25.
- Guazhou Changle Units 5–6: 2 × 1,000 MW USC. Actual construction began April 2023; Unit 5 entered commercial operation September 2025, and Unit 6 was essentially at commissioning stage in August 2025. So about 2½ years from real construction start to operation.
- Chizhou Jiuhua Unit 3: permitted May 2022, construction began only July 2023, commercial operation August 2025 – just over two years of physical construction.
We’re so used to the glacial bloated pace of Western production it is hard to even remember a day when such things were possible, but satellite photos show the pace of construction and finished plants. See The GEM site for more.
Imagine saying Australia could start today and build a coal plant by 2029? Cough, choke, gasp. We’d spend 10 years to issue the first permit and probably have to start university degrees in coal-fired PTSD before the first shovel hit dirt.
Wow. Three years! Even two…
This article originally appeared at JoNova and was republished by CFACT.
