China's electric power industry is the world's largest electricity producer, passing the United States in 2011 after rapid growth since the early 1990s.
Most of the electricity comes from coal which accounted for an estimated 73% of domestic electricity production in 2014. Coal-fired electricity production has declined since 2013 coinciding with a major boom in renewable energy.
China has two national grids, the State Grid and the China Southern Power Grid. Approximately 2005 the northern power grids were synchronized. Since 2011 all Chinese provinces are interconnected. The two grids are joined by HVDC back-to-back connections.
China has abundant energy with the world's third-largest coal reserves and massive hydroelectric resources. There is however a geographical mismatch between the location of the coal fields in the north-east (Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning) and north (Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan), hydropower in the south-west (Sichuan, Yunnan, and Tibet), and the fast-growing industrial load centers of the east (Shanghai-Zhejiang) and south (Guangdong, Fujian).
Video Electricity sector in China
History
In April 1996, an Electric Power Law was implemented, a major event in China's electric power industry. The 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.
Before 1994 electricity supply was managed by electric power bureaus of the provincial governments. Now utilities are 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.
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.
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.
In recent history, China's power industry is characterized by fast growth and an enormous installed base. In 2014, it had the largest installed electricity generation capacity in the world with 1505 GW and generated 5583 TWh China also has the largest thermal power capacity, the largest hydropower capacity, the largest wind power capacity and the largest solar capacity in the world. Despite an expected rapid increase in installed capacity scheduled in 2014 for both wind and solar, and expected increase to 60 GW in nuclear by 2020, coal will still account between 65% and 75% of capacity in 2020.
In Spring, 2011, according to The New York Times, shortages of electricity existed, and power outages should be anticipated. The government-regulated price of electricity had not matched rising prices for coal.
Maps Electricity sector in China
Production and capacity
Problems
Price caps encourage wasteful use of cheap electricity and therefore producers are struggling to generate enough power. It seems likely the cost of power will need to rise substantially over the medium term (2-5 years) to curb wasteful energy consumption 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. Regional power shortages occur frequently when generation drops in one province or region and the lack of long-distance power transmission capacity means that power cannot be routed in from other regions where there is surplus capacity. There is no unified national grid. Instead there are six major regional grids: five managed by the giant State Grid Corporation (north, north-east, east, central and north-west) and an independent grid in the 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 also 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 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. The enormous volume of coal burning also generates massive pollution.
Transmission infrastructure
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 China to meet booming demand from the eastern coastal provinces. China is planning for smart grid and related Advanced Metering Infrastructure.
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 800 kV, based on an extension of technology already in use in other parts of the world.
Sources
Coal power
Hydropower
Wind power
With its large land mass and long coastline, China has exceptional wind resources: it is estimated China has about 2,380 GW of exploitable capacity on land and 200 GW on the sea. At the end of 2014, there was 114 GW of electricity generating capacity installed in China, more than the total nameplate capacity of China's nuclear power stations, (although capacity of wind power is not on par with capacity of nuclear power) and over the year 115,000 gigawatt-hours of wind electricity had been provided to the grid. In 2011, China's plan was "to have 100 gigawatts (GW) of on-grid wind power generating capacity by the end of 2015 and to generate 190 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of wind power annually".
China has identified wind power as a key growth component of the country's economy; researchers from Harvard and Tsinghua University have found that China could meet all of their electricity demands from wind power through 2030.
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 80 GWs by 2020, accounting for about 4% of China's total installed capacity of the electric power industry. This percentage is expected to double every 10 years for several decades out. Plans are for 200 GWs installed by 2030 which will include a large shift to Fast Breeder reactor and 1500 GWs by the end of this century.
Solar power
Companies
In terms of the investment amount of China's listed power companies, the top three regions are Guangdong province, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Shanghai, whose investment ratios are 15.33%, 13.84% and 10.53% respectively, followed by Sichuan and Beijing.
China's listed power companies invest mostly in thermal power, hydropower and thermoelectricity, with their investments reaching CNY216.38 billion, CNY97.73 billion and CNY48.58 billion respectively in 2007. Investment in gas exploration and coal mining follow as the next prevalent investment occurrences.
Major players in China's electric power industry include:
The five majors, and their listed subsidiaries: The five majors are all SOEs directly administered by SASAC. Their listed subsidiaries are substantially independent, hence counted as IPPs, and are major power providers in their own right. Typically each of the big 5 has about 10% of national installed capacity, and their listed subsidiary an extra 4 or 5% on top of that.
- China Datang Corporation
- parent of Datang International Power Generation Company (SEHK: 991; SSE: 601991)
- China Guodian Corporation ("Guodian")
- parent of GD Power Development Company (SSE: 600795),
- China Huadian Group
- parent of Huadian Power International Co., Ltd.
- China Huaneng Group
- parent of Huaneng Power International (NYSE:HNP)
- China Power Investment Corporation ("CPI")
- parent of China Power International Development Limited ("CPID", 2380.HK)
Additionally two other SOEs also have listed IPP subsidiaries:
- the coalmine owning Shenhua Group
- parent of China Shenhua Energy Company (SEHK: 1088, SSE: 601088)
- China Resources Group ("Huarun")
- parent of China Resources Power Holdings Company Limited ("CRP", SEHK: 836)
Secondary companies:
- 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.
- Guangzhou Development Industry (Holdings) Co., Ltd.
- Chongqing Jiulong Electric Power Co., Ltd.
- Chongqing Fuling Electric Power Industrial Co., Ltd.
- Shenergy Company (SSE: 600642), Shanghai.
- Shenergy Group, Shanghai.
- Sichuan Chuantou Energy Stock Co., Ltd.
- Naitou Securities Co., Ltd.
- Panjiang Coal and Electric Power Group
- Hunan Huayin Electric Power Co., Ltd.
- Shanxi Top Energy Co., Ltd.
- 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.
- Sichuan Guangan Aaa Public Co., Ltd.
- Sichuan Leshan Electric Power Co., Ltd.
- Fujian MingDong Electric Power Co., Ltd.
- Guizhou Qianyuan Power Co., Ltd.
Nuclear and hydro:
- China Three Gorges Corporation
- China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group
- China Yangtze Power (listed)
- Sinohydro Corporation an engineering company.
- Guangdong Meiyan Hydropower Co., Ltd.
Grid operators include:
- State Grid Corporation of China
- China Southern Power Grid
- Wenzhou CHINT Group Corporation ("Zhengtai")
See also
References
- The Current situation of China's Electric Power Industry (2000)
- Electricity Sector Development Strategy in China (April 2004)
- China's Electric Power Industry and its Trends (April 2006)
- Reform in China's Electric Power Industry - A Case Study of East China's Wholesale Electric Power Market (May 2006)
- Electric Power Industry in China (February 2007)
Footnotes
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)
- Prof. Liang Xidong, Tsinghua University, "China's Rapidly Growing Power Industry"
- Yearbook
- China Energy Statistical Yearbook 2016
External links
- China Electric Power Research Institute - associated with the State Grid Corporation of China
- Office of the National Energy Leading Group
- China Electrotechnical Society
- Energy Research Institute of China
- China Electric Power Database
- China's oversupply of electric power worrisome 2 January 2006 Zhang Mingquan - HK Trade Council
- China Electric Power Industry Forum
- China EPower Forum
Source of article : Wikipedia
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