India also introduced policies in the first half of 2016 curbing plans for coal-fired plants, partly due to under-utilisation of existing plants, according to a Global Coal Plant Tracker run by non-government and anti-coal group CoalSwarm. The overall decline, of 158 GW, was almost equal to the coal generating capacity of the European Union, at 162 GW, it said. China vowed in February to close 500 million tonnes of coal production in the next three to five years to reduce oversupply. Coal plant retirements are increasing worldwide, especially in the United States and Europe, but are still only a fifth the size of new plant construction, a study by CoalSwarm and other non-governmental organisations said in March. From 2003 to 2015, for instance, the United States added 23 GW of coal capacity and retired 54 GW.

Source: Dhaka Tribune September 07, 2016 18:00 UTC