Why coal should have no future in Southeast Asia’s energy mix

Name: How does China generate its energy?
Uploaded: 2020-10-09T01:45:12.000Z
Duration: 2 min 52 s
Description: How does China generate its energy?

Any plan to keep building new coal-fired power plants when renewables are cheaper than ever is a dangerous game that no country should pursue

Early decisions to move away from coal will help markets make the necessary changes and allow countries time to make plans to manage the transition’s impact

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Solar panel installations and a wind turbine at the Phu Lac wind farm in southern Binh Thuan province in Vietnam on April 23, 2019. Vietnam has invested heavily in its solar capacity in recent years, making it one of the region’s leaders in renewable energy. Photo: AFP

Pamela Simamora

Published: 9:45am, 9 Oct 2020Updated: 9:45am, 9 Oct 2020

Growing energy demand in Southeast Asia is often associated with increasing coal use despite the region’s huge renewable potential. To help lower carbon dioxide emissions from coal power, some have tried to make a case for “clean” coal technology in Southeast Asia.

However, we need to carefully define what clean coal is. It is true that ultra-supercritical coal-fired power plants emit less carbon dioxide given their higher efficiency than conventional coal-fired plants. However, to call them clean is misleading. Even at peak efficiency, they still emit far more emissions than natural gas power plants.

Furthermore, do not forget the air, water and land pollution from coal power that make it far from clean. In Southeast Asia, air pollution caused 450,000 premature deaths in 2018. That number is predicted to increase to 650,000 by 2040 if the region continues its coal addiction.

In addition to emissions, studies suggest new-build solar power across Asean will be cheaper than new coal power from 2020 onwards. Those studies also predict that members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will see unprecedented low prices of renewables; building new solar and onshore wind power will be cheaper than operating coal plants between 2027 and 2029.

Moreover, battery storage costs have plummeted in recent years, making solar power and storage increasingly cost-competitive with coal plants. Portugal’s latest solar auction hit a world record for the lowest output price, at US$0.0131 per kilowatt hour. At this price, renewable energy is superior in almost all aspects – affordability, reliability and sustainability.

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How does China generate its energy?

Clean energy technologies such as solar photovoltaics, wind turbines and batteries have become more affordable and reliable in the past 10 years. Falling prices, together with massive renewable energy potential, have led Thailand to target increasing its solar capacity to 6 gigawatts and wind to 3 gigawatts by 2036. This will add to its existing 2.9 gigawatts of solar and 1.5 gigawatts of wind power.