A boom in the development of gas-fired power plants increased global capacity in development by 22% compared to last year, finds new data from Global Energy Monitor.
Building all the gas power plants currently announced, in pre-construction and construction phases would add approximately 748 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity globally, at an estimated cost of US$601 billion in capital expenditure.
This 748 GW dwarfs the 4.2 GW of gas-fired capacity that was retired in 2022, at a time when the International Energy Agency and others have warned that any hope of limiting planetary warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius requires that no new fossil fuels infrastructure be built.
Key points from the Global Gas Plant Tracker include:
- The global gas plant build-out is ubiquitous, with the leading five countries – China, Vietnam, Brazil, Bangladesh, and the United States – constituting 45% of all new global gas-fired capacity in development, and the top 20 countries making up 78%.
- If built, the approximately 748 GW of gas plants in development would add a total of 41,740 million tonnes CO2e lifetime emissions, equivalent to more than six and half years the entire U.S.’s emissions.
- 111.1 GW, or 14.9%, consist of coal-to-gas conversions or replacements.
- The 748 GW of gas-fired power plants in development surpasses the 537 GW of coal power plants [1] currently in development.
Jenny Martos, Project Manager for the Global Gas Plant Tracker said, “The boom in gas plant construction risks creating an “age of gas” that will last for decades and make the climate crisis worse. Aiding this expansion is the continued conversion of coal to gas-fired power stations at a time when we should be rapidly shifting away from fossil fuels, not prolonging their use.”
