New investment in wind, solar, and other clean energy projects in developing nations dropped sharply in 2018, largely due to a slowdown in China. While the number of new clean power-generating plants completed stayed flat year-to-year, the volume of power derived from coal surged to a new high, according to Climatescope, an annual survey of 104 emerging markets conducted by research firm BloombergNEF (BNEF).
The findings suggest that developing nations are moving toward cleaner power but not nearly fast enough to limit global CO2 emissions. The majority of new power-generating capacity added in developing nations in 2018 came from wind and solar; however, the majority of power to be produced from the overall fleet of power plants added in 2018 will come from fossil sources and emit CO2. This is due to wind and solar projects generating only when natural resources are available while oil, coal, and gas plants can potentially produce around the clock.
Meanwhile, the volume of actual coal-fired power generated and consumed in developing countries jumped to 6.9 thousand terawatt-hours in 2018, up from 6.4 thousand in 2017. The approximately 500 terawatt hours in new coal consumption is roughly equivalent to all the power consumed in Texas in a normal year.
Across the 104 emerging markets surveyed in Climatescope, coal accounted for 47% of all generation. . . .
