Electricity sector in the People's Republic of China

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Electricity production in China till 2005 The People's Republic of China's electric power industry has changed dramatically since the early 1990s to become the world's second-largest electricity consumer, after the United States. 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. China has abundant energy. The country has the world's third-largest coal reserves and massive hydroelectric resources. But there is 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).

Contents

1 Recent history 2 Government 3 Problems 4 Energy Infrastructure o 4.1 Ultra-high-voltage transmission o 4.2 Hydropower o 4.3 Nuclear power o 4.4 Regional disparities 5 Companies 6 E-commerce 7 See also 8 References o 8.1 Footnotes

9 Further reading 10 External links

Recent history
China's power industry has become increasingly competitive over the past three years[when?] as a result of government-initiated structural reforms and China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). Power companies, faced with the pressure of competition, are looking to transform their communications infrastructure to boost efficiency and productivity. China's electric power industry has continuously maintained a high growth rate. By the end of 2000, the total installed power was 315 GW, 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.[citation needed] In 2007, Chinas 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 3263.2 TWh. 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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] By the end of 2010, it is expected that the total installed capacity will reach 900 GW. Annual generation of electricity will exceed 3700 TWh. By the end of 2007, the total installed capacity was 713.29 GW,[1]annual generation of electricity was 3255.9 TWh.[2] In 2011 annual generation was 4692.8 TWh. The structure of China's power industry is expected to remain unchanged for a long time. At present, China's hydropower output amounts to 14.95 percent of the national total,[3] 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. In the long term, China's power industry, boosted by accelerated process of industrialization and urbanization, is projected to 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 hydropower, wind power and nuclear power is increasing. However, investment in coal-fired power generation still ranks first.

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.[4] 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 .

Problems
In Spring, 2011, it was reported by The New York Times that due to increased demand and price controls shortages of electricity existed with additional shortages being anticipated. The government-regulated price electricity could be sold for had not matched rising prices for coal.[5] This article is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this article to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (July
2010)

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 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 (25 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. There is no national grid. Instead there are six regional gridsfive managed by the giant State Grid Corporation (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). o Northern areas experience shortages in winter due to increased heating demand and problems with coal deliveries. o 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. There are concerns about the quality and reliability of Chinese boilers, turbines and generators exported to India compared with Indian or Western equipment.[6]

Energy Infrastructure
Tibet Power is the company that manages power in Tibet, and is controlled by the State Grid Corporation. 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.[7]

Ultra-high-voltage transmission
Main article: Ultra High Voltage (UHV) Transmission in China

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. 1. HVDC Gezhouba 2. HVDC Three Gorges-Guangdong Following research and testing, SGCC has announced construction of the first long-distance UHV line from Sichuan, which is rich in hydro-electric potential, to the eastern load center of Shanghai. Shanghai already receives hydro-electric power from the massive Three Gorges Dam on the Changjiang (Yangtze) at Sandouping in Hubei 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 river (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 Itaipu. 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. [2] 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 Commission in the Eleventh 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 Chinas 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 Chinas 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 Dam or the Xiluodu dam on the lower Jinsha River, have had 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. Johann Hari, writing in the Guardian in 2011, claims that by 1980 "2796 dams had failed, with combined death toll of 240,000 people. After the construction of the Three Gorges dam, it soon began to trigger landslides and deadly waves. The rivers feeding it were not able to flush out garbage so the water became carcinogenic and threatened people in 186 cities. But the most startling effect followed the Zipingpu dam which may well have caused the Sichuan earthquake."[8] Major hydropower corporations

China Yangtze Power Sinohydro Corporation an engineering company.

Nuclear power
Main article: Nuclear power in China 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 is 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.

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.

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.[9] 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.[10][11] 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 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")

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.[3] [4]

See also

China Electricity Council (Brief Introduction Of CEC) International Energy Agency North China Electric Power University