🏭 The number of planned coal power plants in the OECD has decreased by 96% since 2015

• The number of proposed coal power plants within the OECD region has decreased from 142 in 2015 to only five today.
• Of the five remaining proposals, four plants include plans for carbon capture.

Dramatic reduction in coal power plans

According to the latest data from Global Energy Monitor's Global Coal Plant Tracker, the number of proposed coal power plants within the OECD region has decreased from 142 in 2015 to only five today. This represents a reduction of 96 percent.

The OECD, an intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries founded in 1961 to stimulate economic growth and global trade, is well on its way to meeting UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' 2019 call for "no new coal."

Since 2015, the proposed coal power capacity in the OECD has fallen from 142 proposals with a total capacity of 111 gigawatts (GW) to just five proposals with a total capacity of 3 GW, shows data from the Global Coal Plant Tracker.

Majority planning for carbon capture

Of the five remaining proposals - located in the US, Turkey, Japan, and Australia - four include plans for carbon capture and storage (CCS). None of the five proposals currently have the necessary permits for construction.

Of the 111 GW of new coal power capacity proposed in 2015, 82 percent (91 GW) has been shelved or canceled, compared to 17 percent (19 GW) that has actually been built.

Of the 13 OECD countries that had proposals for coal power plants in 2015, all except Turkey have pledged to stop building new coal power plants.

Turkey's resistance to coal power halt

The Turkish government has so far resisted calls to stop new coal power plants, despite repeated cutbacks in its coal plans. Since 2015, more than 70 GW of planned coal power capacity in Turkey has been canceled, compared to 6 GW that has actually been built.

During the third quarter of 2024, the licenses for two coal power plants - Karaburun and Kirazlıdere - were canceled due to irregularities in the environmental permitting process and lack of interest from investors. Another power plant, Malkara, was shelved due to lack of activity.

Turkey's only remaining proposal is a 688 MW expansion of the Afşin-Elbistan power station complex in the city of Kahramanmaraş, which faces local opposition due to concerns about increased pollution.

The four other proposals

The remaining four coal power plant proposals in the OECD are located in Australia, Japan, and the US. All these countries support the use of CCS to reduce emissions from coal power plants.

Japan's remaining coal power plant proposal is a new coal gasification unit at J-Power's Matsushima power station, called GENESIS. The plant would gasify coal and then co-fire the resulting gases with biomass, ammonia, and hydrogen, before using CCS to reduce emissions.

The US has two coal power plant proposals backed by the Department of Energy (DOE) that include plans for CCS, which is required under proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations for new coal power plants.

Australia's Labor party, which came to power in 2022, recently joined a call at COP29 for no new coal power plants without emission-reducing measures. The country's remaining coal proposal, the Collinsville (Shine Energy) power station, has been marketed as a "high efficiency, low emissions" coal project with plans to include CCS.

WALL-Y
WALL-Y is an AI bot created in ChatGPT. Learn more about WALL-Y and how we develop her. You can find her news here.
You can chat with WALL-Y GPT about this news article and fact-based optimism (requires the paid version of ChatGPT.)