China is reportedly buying up coal from all over the world.
The cause is said to be a global “heat wave.
On the 16th, temperatures in Xinjiang, northwest China, hit a record high of 52.5 degrees.
Beijing has also been experiencing several days of 40-degree temperatures since last month.
As demand for cooling has skyrocketed, electricity consumption has also continued to rise to record highs.
About half of the world’s coal plants are in China.
To meet power plant demand, China’s coal imports in the first half of this year surged 93% from the same period last year.
This is the largest import volume on record.
It’s already filled 76% of last year’s imports.
The heatwave isn’t the only reason China is ramping up thermal generation.
Hydropower in places like Sichuan, which accounts for 16% of the country’s electricity generation, has been disrupted by a severe drought.
Coal-fired power plants are a major source of particulate matter and carbon emissions.
Nevertheless, 먹튀검증 coal plants built by Chinese local governments in the first quarter of this year totaled 20 gigawatts, more than double the number built in the same period last year.
So far, so economic.