China’s fossil fuel power plants are on track to chart their first annual drop in generation in a decade as renewables flood the grid to meet rising demand.
Thermal electricity output fell 4.2 percent in November, according to data published by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday. Generation from coal and gas-fired plants is down 0.7 percent this year, on track for the first annual decline since 2015 unless there’s a sharp jump in December.
China’s massive fleet of coal power stations is the world’s leading source of greenhouse gases fueling global warming. Even though the nation is continuing to build more of the plants, their use is plateauing as huge investments in renewables meet growing consumption needs.
Wind power jumped 22 percent in November from the previous year, while large solar farms saw a 23 percent rise in generation, additional data released Monday showed.
Even as power-sector emissions in China drop, they’ve been largely offset by rising pollution from a growing fleet of chemicals and plastics factories, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
The nation’s coal output fell on an annual basis for a fifth month, while oil and natural gas continued to rise toward annual production records.
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