Coal power station

Global electricity production reached 24,900 TWh in 2016.¹

Coal combustion accounts for 40% of the total amount of the energy generated.²

Thus, the amount of energy produced from coal combustions can be calculated according to the following formula:

A_y = (A / 100) * 40, (1), where

A_y = the amount of electricity produced by coal-fired power plants (TWh);

A = global electricity production (TWh).

It follows that coal-fired power plants produced 9,960 TWh of electricity in 2016.

A total of 400-600 kg of coal an hour, depending on its quality, is needed to produce 1 MWh of electricity. For the present calculations, the average value is 500 kg.³ Electricity produced by coal-fired power plants is calculated by dividing the capacity generated by the number of hours per year. There are 365.2425 days and 8,766.05 hours in one year, respectively.

First, the amount of electricity generated must be divided by the number of hours in a year in order to obtain the capacity.

N = A / T, (2), where

N = capacity produced in 2016 (TW);

A = electricity produced in 2016 (TWh);

T = number of hours per year (hours).

The total capacity amounts to 2.84 TW. Thus, we find the capacity generated by coal-fired power plants in the same way as in formula (1).

N_y = 1.136,

Where Ny is the capacity produced by coal-fired power plants (TW).

Next, we find the amount of coal needed to produce 1.136 TW of electricity.

V_y = N_y * V_i * T, (3)

Where

V_y= the amount of coal needed to produce 1.136 TW of electricity (kg);

N_y = capacity generated by coal-fired power plants (MW);

V_i = the amount of coal needed to produce 1 MW of electricity;

T = number of hours per year (hours).

V_y = 1,136,000 * 500 * 8766.05 = 4,979 * 1012 = 4,979,000,000,000 kg.

Thus, the global coal consumption required for generating electricity amounted to 4,979 million tonnes.

It should be noted that total coal production and consumption in 2016 amounted to 7,286 and 7,406 million tonnes, respectively.4 Consequently, 67% or 2/3 of all coal consumed goes to generating electricity alone.