A report from the International Energy Agency’s Clean Coal Centre has revealed there are 670 new-generation high efficiency, low emissions coal-fired power station units operating across Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam.

The IEA estimates these 10 countries’ efforts have already reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 479 million tonnes a year.

Those efforts are accelerating too, as those same countries have another 1066 HELE units either under construction or in the planning stage.

These additional units represent 672 gigawatts of capacity – more than 24 times Australia’s installed coal-fired fleet capacity as at August 31.

The EIA estimates those 10 countries will abate 1.1 billion tonnes of CO2 annually from the planned deployment of HELE rather than subcritical technology in electricity generation.

If all these power units under construction or planned were ultra-supercritical, then the EIA estimates the annual emissions reduction would ramp up to 2 billion tonnes – the equivalent to India’s current annual emissions.

These HELE plants are preferred over subcritical as they produce electricity more efficiently by operating at higher temperatures and pressures.

While the initial capital cost is higher, less coal is needed per unit of electricity produced, providing significant operating cost savings over the life of the asset.

CO2 emissions are also about 40% lower when a supercritical or USC unit replaces an old subcritical unit.

The Minerals Council of Australia’s executive director – coal Greg Evans said the energy transition occurring in Asia was good news for demand for high quality Australian coal, which was most suited for use in modern, cleaner generating plant.

“It is also a major step in reducing emissions growth and this is occurring without compromising much needed economic expansion,” he said.

“It's no longer a choice between having access to affordable base load energy and needing to mitigate emissions – we can do both.

“The findings of this report will be of great disappointment to critics of the coal industry, as we continue to see growing demand for affordable base load energy and particularly in Asia.

“The IEA has estimated an additional 1 billion tonnes of coal will be used in 2019 compared with today.

“By 2040 global coal trade will grow by 40% and it is expected Australia will capture the largest share of that growth with the Department of Industry and Science expecting Australia to regain its position as the world's top coal exporter by 2017.”