China's electric power industry has changed dramatically since the early 1990s to become the world's second-largest electricity consumer, after the
United StatesThe United States is the largest energy consumer in terms of total use, using 100 quadrillion BTUs in 2005. The U.S. ranks seventh in energy consumption per-capita after Canada and a number of small countries...
. In April 1996, an Electric Power Law was implemented, a major event in China's electric power industry. This law set out to promote the development of the electric power industry, to protect legal rights of investors, managers and consumers, and to regulate generation, distribution and consumption.
China has abundant energy. The country has the world's third-largest coal reserves and massive hydroelectric resources. But there is a mismatch between the location of the coal fields in the north-east (Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning) and north (Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan); hydro power in the south-west (Sichuan, Yunnan and Tibet); and the fast-growing industrial load centers of the east (Shanghai-Zhejiang) and south (Guangdong, Guangxi and Guizhou).
History
China's power industry has become increasingly competitive over the past three years as a result of government-initiated structural reforms and China's entry into the
World Trade OrganizationThe World Trade Organization is an international organization designed by its founders to supervise and liberalize international capital trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement, replacing the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade , which...
(WTO). Power companies, faced with the pressure of competition, are looking to transform their communications infrastructure to boost efficiency and productivity.
In 2007, China’s energy supply and demand both surged ahead at an amazing pace in the shadow of its 11.4% GDP growth. Total energy consumption increased by 7.8% equivalent to 2.65 billion tons of standard coal while the amount of electric power generated grew by 14.1% in 2007, to 326.32 million kWh. Thermal power still accounts for the bulk of the energy generated, 83%, followed by 14% from hydro, 2% from nuclear and less than 0.1% from wind power.
By the end of 2007, China's total installed capacity amounted to 713 million kilowatts. China's power demand continued a steady growth momentum in 2008, up 13% year on year. With the shutdown of small thermal power generating units and the slowdown of investment in power generation, the high growth rate of China's newly increased installation capacity in 2008 will decelerate, and the rate is expected to reach 11.8% year on year.
In the long term China's power industry, boosted by accelerated process of industrialization and
urbanizationUrbanization is the physical growth of urban areas from rural areas as a result of population immigration to an existing urban area. Effects include change in density and administration services. While the exact definition and population size of urbanized areas varies amongdifferent countries,...
, will have an average annual growth rate of 6.6% to 7.0% in the next ten years. This indicates that the power industry will require a great deal of investment.
Currently, investment in
hydropowerHydropower, hydraulic power or water power is power that is derived from the force or energy of moving water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes....
,
wind powerWind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as electricity, using wind turbines. At the end of 2008, worldwide nameplate capacity of wind-powered generators was 121.2 gigawatts . In 2008, wind power produced about 1.5% of worldwide electricity usage; and is...
and
nuclear powerNuclear power is power produced from controlled nuclear reactions. Commercial plants in use to date use nuclear fission reactions....
is increasing. However, investment in coal-fired power generation still ranks first.
Structure
The structure of China's power industry is expected to remain unchanged for a long time. At present, China's hydropower output amounts to 13.88 percent of the national total, nuclear power output accounts for 1.94 percent and wind power output amounts to 0.26 percent, while coal-fired power output amounts to at least 78% of the national total. China's coal-fired power generation will be in a stage of stable development until at least 2020, and China's installed capacity of coal-fired power generating units will remain at more than 70 percent.
Government
Before 1994 electricity supply was managed by electric power bureaus of the provincial governments. Now utilities have seen been managed by corporations outside of the government administration structure.
To end the State Power Corporation's (SPC) monopoly of the power industry, China's State Council dismantled the corporation in December 2002 and set up 11 smaller companies. SPC had owned 46% of the country's electrical generation assets and 90% of the electrical supply assets. The smaller companies include two electric power grid operators, five electric power generation companies and four relevant business companies. Each of the five electric power generation companies owns less than 20% (32 GW of electricity generation capacity) of China's market share for electric power generation. Ongoing reforms aim to separate power plants from power-supply networks, privatize a significant amount of state-owned property, encourage competition, and revamp pricing mechanisms.
Generation and supply separation
It is expected that the municipal electric power companies will be divided into electric power generating and electric power supply companies. A policy of competition between the different generators will be implemented in the next years .
Growth
China's electric power industry continuously maintains a high growth rate. By the end of 2000, the total installed power was 315 GW, that means an increase of 16,5 GW or 5.5% compared to 1999. Hydropower amounted to 77 GW, accounting for 15 %; thermal power amounted to 235 GW, accounting for 83 %.and nuclear power amounted to 2GW, accounting for 1 % of installed capacity. Electricity generation reached 1400 TWh, 13.5 % more than in the previous year. In 1999, the construction investment of the electric power industry reached 14 billion US dollars, of which 49.3 % were dedicated to thermal power, 12.5 % to hydropower 6.4 % to nuclear 26.1 %, to transmission lines and transformers and 5.7 %.to other investments.
By the end of 2010, it is expected that the total installed capacity will reach 500 GW. Annual generation of electricity will exceed 2040 TWh.
BY the end of 2007, the total installed capacity was 713.29 GW,annual generation of electricity was 3255.9 TWh.
Problems
- Price caps encourage wasteful use of cheap electricity and therefore producers are struggling to generate enough power overall
- China is unable to mine enough coal or transport it in sufficient quantities to meet demand
- The enormous volume of coal burning generates massive pollution
- Regional power shortages occur frequently when generation drops in one province or region and the lack of long-distance power transmission
Power transmission is the movement of energy from its place of generation to a location where it is applied to performing useful work.Power is defined formally as units of energy per unit time...
capacity means that power cannot be routed in from other regions where there is surplus capacity
It seems likely the cost of power will need to rise substantially over the medium term (2-5 years) to curb wasteful
energy consumptionEnergy consumption is the consumption of energy or power. It is covered in the following articles and categories:* World energy resources and consumption* Domestic energy consumption* Transportation energy consumption* Efficient energy use...
and slow the rate of growth in electricity demand. In theory, the government could raise power costs by a similar amount across the whole of China in the interests of inter-regional equity.
- China's power transmission system remains under-developed. There is no national grid. Instead there are six regional grids -- five managed by the giant State Grid Corporation
State Grid Corporation of China is the largest electric power transmission and distribution company in China and in the world...
(north, north-east, east, central and north-west) and an independent grid (south) managed by the South China State Grid Corp (covering the light manufacturing hub around Guangzhou-Shenzhen and the inland areas of Guangdong, Guangxi and Guizhou).
- Northern areas experience shortages in winter due to increased heating demand and problems with coal deliveries.
- Eastern and southern areas are prone to shortages in late spring/early summer as temperatures and airconditioning demand rise, while reservoir levels and hydro output fall until the arrival of the summer rains in July and August. Guangdong and other southern provinces import substantial quantities of expensive fuel oil and diesel to run additional generation capacity to cope with the resulting power gap.
- The lack of a unified national grid system hampers the efficiency of power generation nationwide and heightens the risk of localised shortages.
- Even within these grids transmission capacity is limited. Many towns and enterprises rely on local off-grid generating plants. More importantly, inter-connections between the grids are weak and long distance transmission capacity is small.
- The country's limited internal transport capacity risks being overwhelmed by the need to move record quantities of coal from the coal fields of the north and north-east to power generators in the central, eastern and southern areas.
- The rail system has struggled to deliver adequate quantities of coal to the generators. Ice storms, flooding or droughts which disrupt rail and river deliveries quickly lead to shortages and power outages.
National grid
The central government has made creation of a unified national grid system a top economic priority to improve the efficiency of the whole power system and reduce the risk of localised energy shortages. It will also enable the country to tap the enormous hydro potential from
western ChinaWestern China refers to the western part of China. In the definition of the Chinese government, Western China covers six provinces: Gansu, Guizhou, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Yunnan; one municipality: Chongqing; and three autonomous regions: Ningxia, Tibet, and Xinjiang.-Administrative...
to meet booming demand from the eastern coastal provinces.
Ultra-high-voltage transmission
The main problem in China is the voltage drop when power is sent over very long distances from one region of the country to another.
Long distance inter-regional transmission have been implemented by using ultra-high voltages (UHV) of 800kV, based on an extension of technology already in use in other parts of the world.
The government plans as many as eight long-distance UHV lines by 2015 and 15 by 2020.
- HVDC Gezhouba - Shanghai
The HVDC Gezhouba - Shanghai is a high voltage direct current electric power transmission system between Gezhouba and Nanqiao near Shanghai, China put in service in 1989...
- HVDC Three Gorges-Changzhou
The HVDC Three Gorges-Changzhou is an 890 kilometre-long bipolar HVDC powerline in China for the transmission of electric power from the Three Gorges power plant to the area of Changzhou.The powerline went into service in 2003...
- HVDC Three Gorges-Guangdong
The HVDC Three Gorges-Guangdong is a 940 kilometre-long bipolar HVDC powerline in China for the transmission of electric power from the Three Gorges power plant to the area of Guangdong. The powerline went into service in 2004. It runs from the static inverter station Jingzhou near the Three...
Following research and testing, SGCC has announced construction of the first long-distance UHV line from
Sichuan' is a province in Southwestern China with its capital in Chengdu. The current name of the province, 四川 , is an abbreviation of 四川路 , or "Four circuits of rivers", which is itself abbreviated from 川峡四路 , or "Four circuits of rivers and gorges", named after the division of the...
, which is rich in hydro-electric potential, to the eastern load center of
ShanghaiShanghai is the largest city in China, and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with over 20 million people. Located on China's central eastern coast at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the city is administered as a municipality of the People's Republic of China with province-level...
.
Shanghai already receives hydro-electric power from the massive
Three Gorges DamThe Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric river dam that spans the Yangtze River in Sandouping, Yiling District,Yichang, Hubei, China. It is the world's largest electricity-generating plant of any kind....
on the
ChangjiangChangjiang may refer to:*Yangtze River, Chinese name Changjiang, river in China*Changjiang Li Autonomous County, a county in Hainan, China*Changjiang District, in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, China*Changjiang Securities, a securities company in Wuhan, China...
(Yangtze) at
SandoupingSandouping is a town in Yiling District of Yichang prefecture-level city in the Chinese province of Hubei. It is located on the right bank of the Yangtze River, next to Yiling District's border with Zigui County to the west...
in
Hubei' is a central province of the People's Republic of China. Its abbreviation is 鄂 , an ancient name associated with the eastern part of the province since the Qin Dynasty. The name Hubei means "north of the lake", referring to Hubei's position north of Lake Dongting...
province. But the new DC 800kV UHV line would enable it to receive power from twice as far west from the Xiangjiaba dam on the
Jinsha riverJinsha River is the westernmost of the major headwater streams of the Yangtze River, southwestern China. "JinSha" literally means "Gold Sand" or "Golden Sands"....
(a tributary of the Changjiang much further upstream).
Xiangjiaba will have total generating capacity of 6,400 MW. When completed, the nearby Xilodu Dam will add a further 12,600 MW (about 55 percent of the size of the planned Three Gorges output), making it the world's third-largest hydro-electric dam, ranking after the Three Gorges and Brazil's
ItaipuItaipu is a hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River located on the border between Brazil and Paraguay.The name "Itaipu" was taken from an isle that existed near the construction site. In the Guarani language, means "the sound of a stone"...
.
Xilodu and Xiangjiaba are two of a series of massive new hydro projects that the government plans in south-western and western China to take advantage of the massive run off from the Himalayas and the Tibet plateau.
SGCC plans to bring a single pole of the Xiangjiaba-Shanghai line into commercial operation within two years (2010) and the second pole a year later (2011). SGCC plans to complete a total of 10 UHV projects by 2015 and 15 by 2020.
http://www.sgcc.com.cn/ywlm/pnews/91705.shtml
In most cases, these will bring power from massive new hydro facilities in south-western China to the industrial and residential centers of the east.
Hydropower
China's installed hydro capacity in the first half of 2009 was 172GW and constituted about 24% of total power generation capacity. In 2008, hydropower generated 563TWh, which was equivalent to 16% of China's total and 85% of primary electricity generation. As China's potential hydropower capacity (estimates range up to 600GW, but currently the technically exploitable and economically feasible capacity is around 400GW) is only about 25-30% utilized, there remains much space for further hyro development. In comparison, hydro utilization in the U.S. currently is 80% and in Norway, Iceland, and other countries it is at over 90%. Several new units are scheduled to still come online in China in 2009 and the
National Development and Reform CommissionThe National Development and Reform Commission , formerly State Planning Commission and State Development Planning Commission, is a macroeconomic management agency under the Chinese State Council, which has broad administrative and planning control over the Chinese economy...
in the 11th Five-Year-Plan has set a 300GW target for 2020. Due to China's scarcity of fossil fuels and the government's preference for energy independence, hydropower is an attractive option.
Most of China's hydropower stations are located Central and Southwestern China, in particular in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, where two thirds of China's untapped hyro capacity is located. The West-to-East Transmission program (xidian dongsong), which is a key component of China’s long-term energy strategy, plans to have a grid of UHVDC transmission lines carry bulk loads from 13 designated hydropower bases in Southwest and Western China over several thousand kilometers to the electricity-hungry coastal provinces. These hydropower bases hold 69% of China’s total exploitable capacity and as of 2008, about 180 middle and large-scale dams are currently under construction there.
Hydropower in China has been touted as a renewable and clean energy source, but this masks the fact that large dams, such as the
Three Gorges DamThe Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric river dam that spans the Yangtze River in Sandouping, Yiling District,Yichang, Hubei, China. It is the world's largest electricity-generating plant of any kind....
or the Xiluodu dam on the lower Jinsha River, have had detrimental environmental impacts on the areas surrounding dam reservoirs. Erosion, flooding of valuable farmland, and destruction of fish breeding habitats have been typical problems. Moreover, about 15 million people have been relocated due to dam construction since 1949 and often these uprooted local people, in particular in Sichuan and Yunnan, tend to be poor and uneducated farmers, who are strongly attached to their ancestral land and have found it difficult to adapt to the more urban areas they have been resettled to. Growing media and NGO attention on the ecological and social impacts of hydropower and efforts in the central government in recent years to improve the regulatory framework of hydropower development and protect the interests of minority stakeholders, such as displaced locals, indicate that hydropower may eventually become more environmentally and socially sustainable.
Major hydropower corporations
- China Yangtze Power
China Yangtze Power is a Chinese utilities company, and is headquartered in Beijing.The company is listed on the SSE 50 Index on the Shanghai Stock Exchange....
- Sinohydro Corporation
Sinohydro Corporation is a hydropower engineering and construction company. The company engages in architectural projects, electric power investment, house property and real estate, research and development, and design and manufacture of construction equipment.It provides investment, project...
Regional disparities
South China from the Changjiang valley down to the South China Sea was the first part of the economy to liberalize in the 1980s and 1990s and is home to much of the country's most modern and often foreign-invested manufacturing industries. Northern and north-eastern China's older industrial base has fallen behind, remains focused on the domestic economy and has suffered relative decline.
Northern and north-eastern China relies heavily on thermal generation from the local coalfields. Northern China will remain reliant on increasingly expensive and polluting thermal generation.
Nuclear power
In terms of nuclear power generation, China will advance from the moderate development strategy to accelerating development strategy. Nuclear power will play an even more important role in China's future power development. Especially in the developed coastal areas with heavy power load, nuclear power will become the backbone of the power structure there. China has planned to build up another 30 sets of nuclear power generator within 15 years with total installed capacity of 36 to 40 million kWh, accounting for about 4% of China's total installed capacity of the electric power industry.
Companies
In terms of the
investmentInvestment or investing is a term with several closely-related meanings in business management, finance and economics, related to saving or deferring consumption. Investing is the active redirection of resources: from being consumed today, to creating benefits in the future; the use of assets to...
amount of China's listed power companies, the top three regions are
GuangdongGuangdong is a province on the southern coast of People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
province,
Inner MongoliaInner Mongolia is a Mongol autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in the country's north....
Autonomous Region and
ShanghaiShanghai is the largest city in China, and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with over 20 million people. Located on China's central eastern coast at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the city is administered as a municipality of the People's Republic of China with province-level...
, whose investment ratios are 15.33%, 13.84% and 10.53% respectively, followed by
Sichuan' is a province in Southwestern China with its capital in Chengdu. The current name of the province, 四川 , is an abbreviation of 四川路 , or "Four circuits of rivers", which is itself abbreviated from 川峡四路 , or "Four circuits of rivers and gorges", named after the division of the...
and
BeijingBeijing is a metropolis in northern China and the capital of the People's Republic of China...
.
China's listed power companies invest mostly in thermal power,
hydropowerHydropower, hydraulic power or water power is power that is derived from the force or energy of moving water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes....
and
thermoelectricityThermoelectricity refers to a class of phenomena in which a temperature difference creates an electric potential or an electric potential creates a temperature difference. In modern technical usage, the term almost always refers collectively to the Seebeck effect, Peltier effect, and the Thomson...
, with their investments reaching CNY216.38 billion, CNY97.73 billion and CNY48.58 billion respectively in 2007. Investment in gas exploration and
coal miningCoal mining is the extraction or removal of coal from the earth by mining. When coal is used for fuel in power generation it is referred to as steaming or thermal coal. Coal that is used to create coke for steel manufacturing is referred to as coking or metallurgical coal...
follow as the next prevalent investment occurrences.
Major players in China's electric power industry include:
- China Datang Corporation
- Shenzhen Energy Co., Ltd.
- Guangdong Yuedian Group Co., Ltd.
- Anhui Province Energy Group Co., Ltd.
- Hebei Jiantou Energy Investment Co., Ltd.
- Guangdong Baolihua New Energy Stock Co., Ltd.
- Shandong Luneng Taishan Cable Co., Ltd.
- Huadian Power International Co., Ltd.
- Guangzhou Development Industry (Holdings) Co., Ltd.
- Chongqing Jiulong Electric Power Co., Ltd.
- Chongqing Fuling Electric Power Industrial Co., Ltd.
- Shenergy Group
- Sichuan Chuantou Energy Stock Co., Ltd.
- Naitou Securities Co., Ltd.
- Hunan Huayin Electric Power Co., Ltd.
- Shanxi Top Energy Co., Ltd.
- China Guodian Corporation
- Inner Mongolia Mengdian Huaneng Thermal Power Co., Ltd.
- SDIC Huajing Power Holdings Co., Ltd.
- Sichuan MinJiang Hydropower Co., Ltd.
- Yunnan Wenshan Electric Power Co., Ltd.
- Guangxi Guidong Electric Power Co., Ltd.
- Sichuan Xichang Electric Power Co., Ltd.
- Sichuan Mingxing Electric Power Co., Ltd.
- Guangdong Meiyan Hydropower Co., Ltd.
- China Yangtze Power Co., Ltd.
- Sichuan Guangan Aaa Public Co., Ltd.
- Sichuan Leshan Electric Power Co., Ltd.
- Fujian MingDong Electric Power Co., Ltd.
- Guizhou Qianyuan Power Co., Ltd.
E-commerce
E-commerce in China is developing at full speed with its many advantages including low cost, high efficiency etc. With the advancement of electric power system reform, the electric utility industry of China has already possessed the basic condition of e-commerce development.
http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1089710http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan001235.pdf
See also
- China Electricity Council (Brief Introduction Of CEC)
- International Energy Agency
The International Energy Agency is a Paris-based intergovernmental organization established under the umbrella of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 1974 in the wake of the oil crisis...
- North China Electric Power University
North China Electric Power University is a university based in Beijing, China under the national Ministry of Education that specializes in polytechnic disciplines.- History :...
Further reading
- Han, Wenke; Jiang, Kejun; Fan, Lijun. Reform of China's electric power industry: facing the market and competition International Journal of Global Energy Issues, Volume 23, Numbers 2-3, 20 April 2005 , pp. 188-195(8)
- Li, Jerry (2009), From Strong to Smart: the Chinese Smart Grid and its relation with the Globe, AEPN, Article No. 0018602, Asia Energy Platform
- Prof. Xifan Wang, Dr. Loi Lei Lai. "Electric Power Industry Restructuring in China" (Power System Restructuring and Deregulation) DOI 10.1002/0470846119.ch7
- Consideration on energy,environmental problems in electric power industry of China. Proceedings of the Conference on Energy, Economy, and Environment. VOL.16th;NO.;PAGE.235-240(2000)
- China's Electric Power Options: An Analysis of Economic and Environmental Costs (June 1998)
- Xu Yi-chong. "Powering China: Reforming the Electric Power Industry in China." Dartmouth. ISBN 0-7546-2251-7
- Electric Power System in China; History of Development, Present status & Future perspective (2007)
Yearbook
External links