British Steel recently announced a shocking piece of news, planning to shut down two blast furnaces as early as June of this year. This decision signifies that the UK's steel production history, which has spanned over 150 years, may be coming to an end.

The closure of blast furnaces by british steel

As the birthplace of the first Industrial Revolution, the UK is about to completely lose its primary steel production capacity. Traditional blast furnaces not only consume a large amount of energy but also generate a significant amount of carbon dioxide, which goes against the global trend of emission reduction and low-carbon development. With the increasingly severe global climate change, the green energy transition has become an inevitable trend, and countries around the world are accelerating their pace of energy transition.

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European Countries Determined to Transition

The Era of Zero Coal Will Eventually Arrive

At midnight on September 30, 2024, the UK's last coal-fired power station, Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, officially closed, marking the end of the 142-year history of coal-fired power generation in the country that triggered the Industrial Revolution. This milestone event makes the UK the first of the Group of Seven (G7) to stop traditional coal-fired power generation, demonstrating its determination and action in addressing climate change.

Closure of Ratcliffe-on-Soar Coal Power Station

On April 1, 2025, Finland shut down its last coal-fired power plant, marking the country's goal of completely phasing out coal-fired power generation four years ahead of schedule. The environmental campaign organization "Beyond Fossil Fuels" pointed out that Finland's coal exit is "nearly complete" and will end all combustion by 2040.

Closure of Finland's coal power plant

In recent years, the global push for a green energy transition has been unstoppable, with many countries demonstrating their "green" determination through concrete actions. European countries such as the United Kingdom, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Iceland, Switzerland, Malta, Luxembourg, Belgium, Sweden, Austria, and the Netherlands have successively shut down coal-fired power plants, moving towards a zero-coal era.

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Gathering Global Strength

Promoting Industrial Development and Upgrading

On April 8th, the report, Global Electricity Review 2025, released by the international energy and environmental think tank Ember showed that in 2024, the global share of clean electricity exceeded 40% for the first time, reaching 40.9%, a record high since the 1940s. This achievement marks a new stage in the global energy transition, with China contributing over half of the newly added clean electricity, becoming a key driving force in the global energy transition.

Tongwei's intelligent manufacturing production line of high-efficiency modules

Over the past decade, China's PV industry has achieved remarkable results. McKinsey's comparative study of the competitiveness of various industries in China and the United States found that China's photovoltaic industry leads the United States, as well as Germany, Japan, and South Korea, holding a leading advantage and strong influence globally. In terms of market share, China's PV industry dominates with over 85% of the global market; in terms of production capacity, China's high-purity crystalline silicon and silicon wafer production accounts for over 95% of the global share, cells over 90%, and modules over 85%. Furthermore, in terms of automation, intelligence, and product quality, China is at a world-leading level.

The International Energy Agency issued a press release, calling on countries to formulate clear plans to promote the development of renewable energy to achieve the global goal of tripling renewable energy installed capacity by 2030. The press release emphasized China's contribution to the development of global renewable energy. China's contribution accounts for over 90% of the renewable energy installed capacity target set in the current nationally determined contributions for 2030.

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Tongwei Supports Global Energy Transition

Demonstrating the Responsibility of a Green Enterprise

As stated by Liu Hanyuan, Deputy to the NPC, Vice Chairman of All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tongwei Group, the world has been in the era of fossil fuels and oil since the 1970s and 1980s. In the future, humanity will enter the era of clean energy. China is undoubtedly at the forefront in terms of the scale of the clean energy industry, its share of the international market, and the impetus for energy transition.

Chairman Liu Hanyuan said that among the "New Trio", the PV industry has completely transformed the energy production method, new energy vehicles have achieved the greatest transformation in transportation methods, and power batteries and energy storage batteries have addressed the instability issues during the energy transition process. When these three industries join forces, they will change the way humans utilize energy and their survival and development situation, transforming humanity from the civilization of coal and oil into a new era of renewable energy development. In this process, China's funds, projects, products, and talents will go global, forming a huge market for all mankind, supporting the continuous improvement of China's economy, and winning the respect of all mankind and the leading edge in economic competition.

Tongwei Fishery-PV-Integrated Eco-park in Dongying

As a representative of Chinese PV enterprises, Tongwei has been deeply involved in PV sector for more than ten years on the road to accelerating energy transition and has become one of the core participants and main driving forces in the global new energy industry. Tongwei's high-purity crystalline silicon production capacity exceeds 900,000 tons; its annual cell production capacity exceeds 140GW, ranking first in global shipments for eight consecutive years; its high-efficiency module production capacity is 85GW, and its shipments are among the top 5 in the world. Tongwei's PV products are exported to more than 70 countries and regions overseas; at the terminal stage, it pioneered the development model of "integration of fishery and PV", combining traditional aquaculture with PV power generation, realizing the integration of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, and providing the "Tongwei Solution" for rural revitalization.

In the face of future development, PV and energy storage sector, as representatives of advanced manufacturing industry, is not only an important engine to promote energy reform, but also a strategic emerging industry to help realize China's "double carbon" goal. As one of the representative enterprises promoting the integrated development of PV and energy storage, Tongwei will promote the high-quality development of new energy sector with greater efforts, and make greater contribution to promoting China's energy transition, strengthening energy security and building a clean and beautiful world.