By Rowan Callick

January 23, 2017 - The head of Shanghai’s “cleanest coal-fired power station in the world” believes pollution from such generation would be almost negligible if all power units were renovated to its standard.

Fei Weizhong, the general manager of Waigaoqiao No. 3 plant, says China would burn about 63 million tonnes less coal every year if all power units were switched over to ultra-supercritical boilers that drive up energy efficiency and slash carbon emissions.

He has established a team dedicated to increasing his plant’s efficiency by another 9 percent.

Subcritical boilers at coal-fired plants operate below 550 degrees Celcius, supercritical reach 565 degrees. But incorporating new materials and design, ultra-supercritical technology creates water pressure inside a boiler greater than that of a bullet striking a solid object. The water is heated to above 600 degrees, becoming a “supercritical” fluid that no longer has liquid or gas phases but exhibits qualities of both.

The pace of development of such new coal-fired technologies, and of their introduction — especially in north Asia, in Japan, South Korea and China, Australia’s three biggest coal export markets — is driving massive change in the industrial and environmental landscape.

In Japan and South Korea, 70 percent of coal-powered energy comes from supercritical or ultra-supercritical plants; in China about 25 percent; but in Australia considerably less than 10 percent.

Raising the average global efficiency of coal plants from the current 33 percent to 42 per cent by deploying solutions such as ultra-supercritical boilers would reduce annual CO2 emissions by more than 2 billion tonnes, providing the biggest single contribution to containing global warming within the 2 degrees scenario sought by the Paris climate agreement.

Research is rapidly pushing up efficiency rates attainable towards 50 percent plus, with advanced ultra-supercritical plants being designed with boilers reached 815 degrees. Such “AUSC” generators will be available within the next six years.

Such renovation of the coal power industry will help developing countries regain their growth trajectories, with energy demand expected to soar especially in Asia, where 85 percent of the world’s new coal-fired power plants are scheduled to be built.

About two-thirds of China’s energy still comes from coal, but increasingly from ultra-supercritical plants. The new generation is equivalent to 50 of the Waigaoqiao No 3 plants now being installed, with the goal of slashing pollution from coal power by 60 percent in the five years to 2020, through upgrades and replacements.

This week, Beijing ordered 13 provinces to scrap 104 coal-fired projects that would have cost $70 billion, while also re-announcing about $400bn investments in renewable energy.

The move underlines the government’s determination to adhere to the cap on total coal power capacity of 1,100 gigawatts, under its Five Year plan to 2020. This still anticipates a 10 percent rise in coal-fired generation during the period.

But recently, provinces where coal is mined, especially, have been seeking to sustain both economic growth targets and employment numbers, by pushing for new power stations tied to their coal production.

The government is concerned that too many of these “surplus” new plants do not meet best-practice efficiency targets, and are being built as demand is stabilising or falling for heavy industries led by steel and cement that have traditionally accounted for half of China’s coal use, directly and through the massive power they require.

Instead, China’s economic growth is today being driven principally by domestic consumers and by its service sectors.

Under the government’s cap on coal-fired generation, capacity will slide by 2020 from the present 64 per cent of China’s total power supply to about 55 percent — still a massive amount, in the world’s biggest consumer of energy and second-largest economy.