Sunsetting coal power in China
Summary: Reducing CO2 emissions from coal-fired electricity generation in China is critical to limit global warming. Long-term projections of China's electricity supply tend to assume that coal generation will be a mainstay of China's electricity system through 2050, due to limitations in...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2021-09-01
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| Series: | iScience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S258900422100907X |
| _version_ | 1818717992646606848 |
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| author | Fredrich Kahrl Jiang Lin Xu Liu Junfeng Hu |
| author_facet | Fredrich Kahrl Jiang Lin Xu Liu Junfeng Hu |
| author_sort | Fredrich Kahrl |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Summary: Reducing CO2 emissions from coal-fired electricity generation in China is critical to limit global warming. Long-term projections of China's electricity supply tend to assume that coal generation will be a mainstay of China's electricity system through 2050, due to limitations in the scalability of hydropower, nuclear, and natural gas generation and the commercial availability of carbon capture and storage. This paper examines the resource, economic, and institutional implications of reducing and replacing coal generation in China with mostly renewable energy and energy storage by 2040. We find that the scale of solar, wind, and storage resources needed to do so is on the order of 100–150 GW/year of solar and wind capacity and 15 GW/year of energy storage from 2020 to 2025, growing to 250 GW/year and 90 GW/year, respectively, from 2025 to 2040. We then also evaluate the sensitivities if coal plants are retired by 2050. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T19:43:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a566088426a14cb084685a76b3c5b6d3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2589-0042 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T19:43:58Z |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | iScience |
| spelling | doaj.art-a566088426a14cb084685a76b3c5b6d32022-12-21T21:34:55ZengElsevieriScience2589-00422021-09-01249102939Sunsetting coal power in ChinaFredrich Kahrl0Jiang Lin1Xu Liu2Junfeng Hu33rdRail Inc., Berkeley, CA 94702, United States; University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, United StatesLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States; University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States; Corresponding authorLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States; Peking University, Beijing, ChinaLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States; North China Electric Power University, Beijing, ChinaSummary: Reducing CO2 emissions from coal-fired electricity generation in China is critical to limit global warming. Long-term projections of China's electricity supply tend to assume that coal generation will be a mainstay of China's electricity system through 2050, due to limitations in the scalability of hydropower, nuclear, and natural gas generation and the commercial availability of carbon capture and storage. This paper examines the resource, economic, and institutional implications of reducing and replacing coal generation in China with mostly renewable energy and energy storage by 2040. We find that the scale of solar, wind, and storage resources needed to do so is on the order of 100–150 GW/year of solar and wind capacity and 15 GW/year of energy storage from 2020 to 2025, growing to 250 GW/year and 90 GW/year, respectively, from 2025 to 2040. We then also evaluate the sensitivities if coal plants are retired by 2050.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S258900422100907XEnergy PolicyEnergy SystemsEnvironmental Science |
| spellingShingle | Fredrich Kahrl Jiang Lin Xu Liu Junfeng Hu Sunsetting coal power in China iScience Energy Policy Energy Systems Environmental Science |
| title | Sunsetting coal power in China |
| title_full | Sunsetting coal power in China |
| title_fullStr | Sunsetting coal power in China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sunsetting coal power in China |
| title_short | Sunsetting coal power in China |
| title_sort | sunsetting coal power in china |
| topic | Energy Policy Energy Systems Environmental Science |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S258900422100907X |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT fredrichkahrl sunsettingcoalpowerinchina AT jianglin sunsettingcoalpowerinchina AT xuliu sunsettingcoalpowerinchina AT junfenghu sunsettingcoalpowerinchina |