"The reality is that China has more coal power capacity than it needs," said Zhang Shuwei, director at Draworld Energy Research Centre. That's equivalent to about a hundred large coal-fired plants and enough to supply the whole of Britain. China's big jump in coal power approvals has sparked fears that there will be backsliding on its climate goals. Share of coal in China's energy mixAnalysts note existing coal plants could provide sufficient backup for renewables if they were plugged into a nationwide market, but China's power sector remains fragmented. "It would be far cheaper... to incentivise provincial trading than incentivising new loss-making coal," he said.

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