{"id":1221,"date":"2017-07-13T16:23:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-14T00:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/master.k8s.p4.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/aboutus\/1221\/a-coal-merchant-and-his-son\/"},"modified":"2019-12-02T21:54:01","modified_gmt":"2019-12-03T05:54:01","slug":"a-coal-merchant-and-his-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/blog\/1221\/a-coal-merchant-and-his-son\/","title":{"rendered":"A Coal Merchant and his son"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"post-content\">\n<div>\n<p><em>How a failing family-run coal operation found new opportunities in the solar industry.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Another phase of China\u2019s energy revolution is building. Quieter than the headline-grabbing super projects of the northwest, it is nonetheless just as powerful.<\/p>\n<p>From the entrepreneur who ditched coal and became a solar pioneer, to a group of residents that is solarising their communities one rooftop at a time, Greenpeace East Asia set out to see how China\u2019s mammoth energy transition is playing out in the lives and homes of ordinary Chinese people.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TKrkHJCLq7I\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>For years, Chen Yongshuan and his son, Chen Hao, ran a small coal mine in Hebei Province. \u00a0Like many small-scale coal merchants, their business has been struggling in the past few years: \u201cEvery year the pollution is getting worse. Every year, the prices drop. You can\u2019t make a profit,\u201d said Chen Yongshuan.<\/p>\n<p>Since 2013, fuelled by China\u2019s nation-wide war on pollution and plummeting coal prices, coal mines have been rapidly closing, hitting small-scale operations like Chen Yongshuan\u2019s the hardest. The father and son entrepreneurs from Hebei Province \u2013 famously home to some of China\u2019s most heavily polluted cities \u2013 were in need of a solution.<\/p>\n<div class=\"events-box big-box left\">\n<div class=\"frame reset-padding\"><a class=\"open-img EnlargeImage\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eastasia-stateless\/2019\/11\/a17114f1-a17114f1-screen-shot-2017-07-12-at-3.34.48-pm.png\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" id=\"ctl00_cphContentArea_epiEntryContent_ctl00_ctl02_Image1\" class=\"Thumbnail\" style=\"border-width: 0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eastasia-stateless\/2019\/11\/a17114f1-a17114f1-screen-shot-2017-07-12-at-3.34.48-pm.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"hidden\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><em><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-9c54d557-3aa9-22cb-ad82-b4fd8cc4c61d\">\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-9c54d557-3aa9-22cb-ad82-b4fd8cc4c61d\">CPIC PV power plant in Quyang County, Hebei Province <\/span>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In the end, it was Chen Hao who suggested quitting the coal business and making the switch to solar: \u201cI had an understanding of solar, through these power plants in the mountains. I knew that distributed solar was workable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His father however, was more skeptical, as was the rest of their family. He opted to continue running the coal plant, while Chen Hao attempted to get the new solar venture off the ground.<\/p>\n<p>It was no mean feat. All of his potential customers were local people, many of whom had no idea what a PV panel was, let alone any interest in spending their hard-earned money on purchasing one. \u201cWhen you said \u2018solar power\u2019, they just didn\u2019t understand what it was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2013, for an entire year, Chen Hao went into the village every day to try and publicise his new business, sometimes shouting himself hoarse in an attempt to drum up interest.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\n<div class=\"events-box big-box left\">\n<div class=\"frame reset-padding\"><a class=\"open-img EnlargeImage\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eastasia-stateless\/2019\/11\/721817d1-721817d1-screen-shot-2017-07-12-at-5.36.33-pm.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"ctl00_cphContentArea_epiEntryContent_ctl00_ctl04_Image1\" class=\"Thumbnail\" style=\"border-width: 0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eastasia-stateless\/2019\/11\/721817d1-721817d1-screen-shot-2017-07-12-at-5.36.33-pm.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"frame reset-padding\"><em style=\"font-size: inherit;\">Chen Hao on the roof of one of his clients<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Though it took a lot of patient explanation and perseverance, customers eventually began to take notice. As word spread, more and more people bought into the trend, Chen Hao\u2019s company was able to prise open the local market and get people connected to the grid.<\/p>\n<p>By 2016, the family company had installed 1.5 megawatts of solar capacity in the area, covering roughly 15,000 meters of rooftop space. Now, they are responsible for 30% of their home county\u2019s distributed PV market share.<\/p>\n<p>For rural people with a low income, drumming up the finances to make the first investment into household solar is difficult to say the least. So in 2014, Chen Hao lobbied local banks to provide small-scale \u2018PV\u2019 loans to customers to help them get past the initial financial hurdle.<\/p>\n<div class=\"events-box big-box left\">\n<div class=\"frame reset-padding\"><a class=\"open-img EnlargeImage\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eastasia-stateless\/2019\/11\/e411a0ad-e411a0ad-village-grandpas.jpg\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" id=\"ctl00_cphContentArea_epiEntryContent_ctl00_ctl06_Image1\" class=\"Thumbnail\" style=\"border-width: 0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eastasia-stateless\/2019\/11\/e411a0ad-e411a0ad-village-grandpas.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"frame reset-padding\"><em style=\"font-size: inherit;\">Local residents at Xiaomuxiang village market in Quyang County.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Chen Hao sees the switch from \u201cYou have to follow society\u2019s trends. The country has to develop. We, as a small family, also have to develop. We hold firm that this industry has a promising future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even his father has now come around to the idea. \u201cFrom now on, I\u2019ll invest in Chen Hao\u2019s business, I\u2019ll listen to my son. I\u2019ll stop the [coal plant] business next year.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"events-box big-box left\">\n<div class=\"frame reset-padding\"><a class=\"open-img EnlargeImage\" title=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/Global\/eastasia\/openspace\/campaigns\/toxics\/Screen%20Shot%202017-07-12%20at%203.55.23%20PM.png\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" id=\"ctl00_cphContentArea_epiEntryContent_ctl00_ctl08_Image1\" class=\"Thumbnail\" style=\"border-width: 0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eastasia-stateless\/2019\/11\/e411a0ad-e411a0ad-screen-shot-2017-07-12-at-3.55.23-pm.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"frame reset-padding\"><em style=\"font-size: inherit;\">Chen Yongshuan at his coal plant<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Chen Yongshuan\u2019s change of heart couldn\u2019t come soon enough. For many of China\u2019s small merchants, it\u2019s a matter of when, not if, their operations will be shut down, either through dwindling profits, or as part of a nationwide clampdown on coal consumption. In 2015, 6500 small-scale coal mines were in operation in the country. 500 were shut down that same year. Of the remaining 6000, half are expected to close by the end of 2020.<\/p>\n<p>China\u2019s solar energy industry is booming. Last year, while coal demand saw record-breaking drops, s<a href=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/2017\/02\/09\/china-doubled-solar-capacity-2016\/\">olar capacity doubled<\/a>. Solar in China is more flexible and accessible than it has ever been. With the energy transition comes new opportunities, not only to enter a burgeoning new industry, but to also make a valuable contribution to fighting China\u2019s infamous air pollution.<\/p>\n<p>Whether China\u2019s small coal merchants are able to take this opportunity is yet to be seen, but the increasingly limited prospects in China\u2019s coal industry have come sharply into focus.<\/p>\n<p>As Chen Hao said, \u201cWe have to move forwards, not backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Read more about China\u2019s grassroots renewables transition <a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/news\/blog\/the-startup-heroes-of-chinas-renewables-revol\/blog\/57957\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here <\/a>and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/news\/blog\/powering-up-meet-the-women-electrifying-china\/blog\/58885\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here.<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Anna McGurk is a content writer at Greenpeace East Asia<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How a failing family-run coal operation found new opportunities in the solar industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":1222,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[100],"p4-page-type":[26],"class_list":["post-1221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-energy","tag-renewable-energy","p4-page-type-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1221"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2723,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221\/revisions\/2723"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1221"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=1221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}