The National Energy Administration (NEA) last week said it will scrap plans for 15 unapproved projects in nine provinces, while also vowing to slash production at massive coal-fired plants in the remote Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia regions.

The directives could clear roughly 12.4GW of potential capacity from China’s already congested grid. However, the government is primarily trying to balance overcapacity concerns against a desire to ensure the stability of coal-fired electricity supplies this winter. 

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