China Coal Capacity Tops Goal; Energy-Saving in Doubt

China’s coal production capacity will exceed its output target by at least 16 percent by 2010, a development that would raise doubts about Beijing’s energy-efficiency plans, state media reported.

It would also be a test for the country’s top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), which has been battling excess capacity in a variety of sectors to cool over-investment.
Dai Yande, a deputy chief at the Energy Research Institute under the NDRC, warned this week that China has had difficulty fulfilling its promise with existing efforts.

“The central government is strengthening its energy saving and pollution reduction efforts, but relevant rules and regulations are loosely enforced by local governments,” Dai was quoted as saying in the China Business News newspaper. “Existing policies and enforcement are insufficient to cope with problems and challenges in the energy sector.”

Many institutions forecast in 2001 that China’s energy demand would rise to 2.4 billion tonnes of coal equivalent in 2020, but it had already reached that level in 2006, Dai was quoted as saying.

Energy consumption will irreversibly grow quickly from current levels, he said. “Judging by the current situation, it will be difficult for energy consumption per unit of GDP to decline in the first half of this year.”

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