Focus on Arts and Ecology

In late September, the National Development and Reform Commission, the State Council, and National Energy Agency jointly released a notice calling for a halt to construction of some coal-fired power plants across the country, reported Beijing News. The announcement follows a call to reassess coal plant construction in light of significant overcapacity, as outlined in the government’s March 2017 work plan. The new notice lists 29 projects in nine provinces that are required to stop construction (35.20 gigawatts) and another 50 projects in 17 regions that will be halted for re-evaluation (55.17 gigawatts). The majority are in Shanxi and Ningxia provinces. Last week, Greenpeace commented that the announcement marks a step forward in addressing overcapacity but the list of coal-power plants has only been reduced by 15% from a previous draft and there is a long way to go before achieving the larger target of stopping or delaying at least 150 gigawatts of coal power by 2020. For the full list of projects included in the September announcement, see here.