South America Sets Historic Benchmark: Zero New Coal Plants Planned

Join CleanTechnica’s Weekly Substack for Zach and Scott’s in-depth analyses and high level summariesjoin our daily newsletterand/or follow us on Google News!

South America simply achieved a exceptional power milestone, quietly setting a world benchmark: for the primary time in historical past, the complete continent now has zero new coal-fired energy vegetation deliberate. To know how exceptional that is, we want solely look again a decade. When the Paris Settlement was signed in 2015, South America had eighteen coal-fired vegetation on the drafting board, reflecting world uncertainty concerning the function coal would play in powering rising economies. At present, that uncertainty has vanished. Coal, as soon as perceived as a staple of industrialization and financial stability, has primarily vanished from the continent’s power future.

Traditionally, coal performed a modest however nonetheless important function in South America’s energy combine. The continent’s grid has historically been powered predominantly by hydropower and pure gasoline, with coal concentrated in a handful of nations — most notably Chile, Colombia, and Brazil. Chile, specifically, relied closely on coal for many years, with coal-fired era peaking at over 40% of its electrical energy combine in 2016. In the meantime, Colombia’s relationship with coal is deeply intertwined with its economic system; although it stays one of many world’s largest coal exporters, domestically it has at all times used comparatively little coal to generate electrical energy. Brazil, regardless of huge hydro assets, maintained a number of coal vegetation primarily within the southern states the place home coal mining supported native economies.

The decisive turning level for coal’s prospects in South America started round 2015, catalyzed largely by the Paris Settlement. The worldwide local weather accord supplied each a symbolic and sensible impetus for nations to rethink coal’s function. Local weather commitments, coupled with fast enhancements in renewable applied sciences and plunging prices for wind and solar energy, dramatically reshaped the power panorama. By early 2025, each beforehand proposed coal plant had both been cancelled or shelved, reflecting a convergence of coverage alignment, market economics, and public sentiment in opposition to coal.

Chile is maybe probably the most instructive case research on this transition. Within the final decade, Chile has reworked from a coal-heavy nation to a world chief in renewable power. This fast transformation took place by means of deliberate coverage measures together with aggressive carbon pricing, strict emission requirements for coal vegetation, and a well-designed renewable power public sale system. The financial benefit of renewables rapidly turned obvious, as Chile’s Atacama Desert, one of many sunniest locations on Earth, turned host to large photo voltaic initiatives offering electrical energy at record-low costs. By 2024, Chile’s reliance on coal had dropped dramatically, with coal now accounting for lower than 20% of complete electrical energy era. Moreover, Chile carried out revolutionary monetary mechanisms to facilitate early retirement of coal vegetation, corresponding to blended finance schemes supported by worldwide lenders. These measures have confirmed extremely efficient, permitting coal vegetation to close forward of schedule, accelerating the nation’s transition to renewables.

Colombia’s expertise illustrates one other side of coal phase-out — the administration of a “just transition.” With coal exports central to Colombia’s economic system, the home political panorama posed important challenges. Regardless of this complexity, Colombia joined the Powering Previous Coal Alliance in 2021, sending a powerful worldwide sign that the period of coal energy was ending. The federal government below President Gustavo Petro, elected in 2022, explicitly dedicated to winding down coal energy and mining operations, albeit with cautious consideration to employees and communities depending on coal-related employment. Plans at the moment are in place to step by step retire Colombia’s few remaining coal energy vegetation, with a specific deal with creating various financial actions corresponding to renewable power initiatives, agriculture, and eco-tourism to exchange coal mining and associated sectors. Colombia’s ongoing transition highlights the essential significance of incorporating social and financial dimensions into the decarbonization course of, making certain no group is left behind.

Brazil’s journey away from coal displays a considerably contradictory coverage setting. In 2022, Brazil controversially prolonged subsidies and operational ensures for coal vegetation in Santa Catarina till 2040, citing regional financial issues. Nevertheless, even this transfer is successfully a holding sample moderately than a real enlargement — no new coal capability is deliberate or below critical consideration in Brazil. In the meantime, renewable power continues to flourish throughout the nation. Brazil is a world chief in wind and photo voltaic power progress, including gigawatts of renewable capability every year by means of extremely aggressive auctions. Market forces overwhelmingly favor renewables, and even with prolonged subsidies, Brazil’s coal vegetation battle to compete economically. The chance stays excessive that coal era in Brazil will diminish quicker than official coverage timelines counsel, pushed by the relentless market stress from cheaper and cleaner renewable alternate options.

The broader elements underpinning South America’s exceptional transition away from coal embrace strong economics, worldwide local weather commitments, efficient environmental activism, and geopolitical shifts in power finance. Renewable applied sciences, particularly photo voltaic and wind, have plummeted in value, making them unquestionably extra aggressive than coal throughout the continent. Concurrently, worldwide monetary establishments, beforehand essential sources of coal plant financing, have largely withdrawn from coal initiatives. China’s resolution in 2021 to stop funding abroad coal energy was notably impactful, as a number of deliberate South American coal initiatives relied on Chinese language financing.

The environmental and social advantages of eliminating coal are substantial and changing into more and more evident. Communities beforehand burdened by coal plant air pollution, affected by elevated charges of respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, now expertise tangible well being enhancements. Decreasing coal use dramatically cuts air pollution corresponding to sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter, considerably bettering public well being outcomes in affected areas. Ecologically, phasing out coal additionally means assuaging native water stress and air pollution from coal-ash storage services, contributing positively to broader environmental restoration efforts in traditionally coal-intensive areas.

However, South America’s profitable coal phase-out will not be with out ongoing challenges. Grid reliability stays a paramount concern as coal vegetation retire. Renewable power’s intermittent nature requires new approaches to make sure steady, dependable energy provide. In response, international locations are investing in expanded transmission infrastructure, power storage programs, demand administration packages, and smarter grids to successfully combine greater shares of variable renewable era. Moreover, the socioeconomic transition in coal-dependent areas stays essential. Properly-designed insurance policies should guarantee a genuinely simply transition, with retraining, financial diversification, and group help important to keep away from social dislocation and financial hardship.

Whereas South America has impressively eradicated plans for brand spanking new coal energy, warning stays warranted because the area considerably invests in pure gasoline infrastructure, probably creating one other long-term fossil dependency. As of early 2025, roughly 100 energetic gas-fired initiatives are both below building or in improvement throughout Latin America. As an illustration, Bolivia lately inaugurated a 103 MW gas-fired plant at its Mutún Metal Advanced, constructed by Chinese language agency CRRC Ziyang, signaling continued reliance on gasoline for industrial energy. In Brazil, Mitsubishi Energy is supplying gasoline generators for the 1.6 GW UTE Portocem thermoelectric plant, anticipated on-line by 2026. Guyana, too, is creating a significant 300 MW gas-to-energy facility close to Georgetown, funded by means of a considerable $526 million mortgage from the U.S. Export-Import Financial institution. Whereas these pure gasoline initiatives are underway, the size of renewable power improvement far surpasses that of pure gasoline in Latin America.

Globally, South America’s quiet exit from coal offers a robust instance for different areas nonetheless grappling with their very own fossil gas dependence. Developed nations can be taught from South America’s cost-effective renewable auctions, revolutionary financing mechanisms, and socially acutely aware transition methods. Creating international locations, notably in Asia and Africa, could discover inspiration and sensible steering in South America’s path, proving that financial progress and poverty alleviation wouldn’t have to depend upon coal.

Wanting ahead, South America’s future power panorama seems overwhelmingly renewable, pushed by additional investments in wind, photo voltaic, and storage options. The area is on observe to develop into one of many first globally to totally remove coal from electrical energy manufacturing, an achievement that positions South America as a pacesetter in sustainable improvement. With COP30 scheduled to happen in Brazil in 2025, the continent’s coal-free ambitions might be on show, demonstrating to the worldwide group what fast, accountable power transition can appear like.

In the end, South America’s elimination of deliberate coal vegetation represents a historic turning level, providing hope and a mannequin for the world. It underscores the potential for rising economies to leapfrog outdated, polluting applied sciences and immediately undertake cleaner, extra sustainable alternate options. The worldwide power transition is advanced, however South America’s latest milestone exhibits {that a} coal-free future will not be solely potential, however already taking form.