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Number of Coal Power Plants by Country 2023

During the past few decades, there has been a major push to move away from coal power. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of countries that have a large number of coal power plants. The country with the most coal power plants, by far, is mainland China. Mainland China is estimated to have more than 1,100 coal power plants still active. Even though China does not share a lot of information with the outside world, satellite images have been used to support this conjecture. China has received a significant amount of pressure from the international community during the past five years to try to reduce the number of coal power plants in its country.

What Countries Have More Than 100 Coal Power Plants?

Even though China has the overwhelming majority of coal power plants in the world, there are several other countries that still have more than 100 coal power plants. India has the second most coal power plants in the world, with approximately 285 coal power plants still active. In addition, the United States has 240 coal power plants still active. The United States has worked hard to try to move away from coal power, but there are still some parts of the country that do not have access to another reliable source of energy. The number of coal power plants in the United States has been steadily dropping during the past few years.

Why Have Countries Moved Away From Coal Power?

There are a few reasons why countries have decided to move away from coal power. The biggest reason is that it is an incredibly filthy source of energy. Today, there is a lot of attention paid to the environment, and those people understand that we need to move away from coal power to protect the world. Furthermore, coal power plants are incredibly expensive to maintain. Many of them are very old, and it is difficult to find parts to replace them when they break. For all of these reasons, countries are trying to move away from coal as a source of power.

What Will Replace Coal Power Plants?

There are a number of sustainable energy sources that could be used to replace coal power plants when they are finally gone. For example, a lot of countries have turned to nuclear power as a way to replace coal power. Even though there is some hesitancy to rely on nuclear power totally, it could prove a viable replacement.

Wind power has also been proposed as a possibility. The wind patterns across the world are very predictable, and there are a lot of countries that have decided to produce windmills as a way to generate power.

Finally, solar power has also become a very popular sustainable form of energy. A lot of countries have been trying to deploy more solar power plants as a way to replace coal power plants. It will be interesting to see just how far these power plants go.

- Unless labeled otherwise, all data represents totals for mid-year 2023.

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Country
Plants in Operation
Plants in Pre-Construction
Plants Under Construction
Plants Shelved
Plants Cancelled 2010-2023
Plants Retired 2000-2023
China1,14219812843494365
India2823325841140
United States21010044321
Japan931101713
Indonesia9161821810
Russia689312033
Germany580002260
Poland420102225
Turkey346161090
Philippines26521392
Vietnam25447320
Czech Republic2500037
South Korea2402067
Kazakhstan2262033
Taiwan2000065
South Africa18311152
Ukraine1800136
Australia181001415
Pakistan15531280
Bulgaria1100052
Thailand1010171
Canada10000213
Malaysia800050
North Korea800010
Romania80001214
Chile8000134
Brazil720172
Italy70001011
Spain7000121
Finland7000210
France6000113
Colombia500240
Mongolia552270
Bosnia and Herzegovina530360
Bangladesh4352260
Morocco400020
Cambodia412050
Greece400025
Serbia401330
Denmark400009
Slovakia400013
Nigeria310180
Mexico300120
Myanmar3000180
Netherlands300015
Zimbabwe362280
Dominican Republic300030
Hungary300064
Mauritius300010
United Kingdom2000923
Argentina201000
Uzbekistan210011
Zambia210040
Guatemala200011
Senegal200030
Israel200011
Hong Kong200001
Botswana220560
Slovenia200002
North Macedonia200030
Madagascar110000
Syria100000
Sri Lanka100060
Honduras100000
Tajikistan100020
Laos161100
Kyrgyzstan110001
New Zealand100001
Ireland100000
Panama100001
Croatia100020
Moldova100000
Namibia100020
Montenegro100040
Brunei100000
Guadeloupe100001
Ethiopia00100
Egypt00040
DR Congo00100
Iran01000
Tanzania20250
Kenya10130
Sudan00010
Peru00011
Ghana00010
Mozambique30330
Ivory Coast00010
Venezuela00050
Niger10020
Malawi20120
Guinea00020
Belgium00019
Sweden00002
Papua New Guinea00100
Portugal00003
United Arab Emirates00041
Belarus00020
Austria00017
El Salvador00020
Oman00100
Georgia00010
Albania00010
Jamaica00030
Latvia00010
Eswatini10130
Djibouti00100
showing: 106 rows

Which country has the most coal power plants?

Coal power plants continue to operate in large numbers in China, which has the world's greatest number of active plants, 1,100.

Frequently Asked Questions