China's Installed Power Capacity Reaches 830 Gigawatts

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--As of the end of September 2009, China's installed capacity of power had reached 830 gigawatts (GW), according to China Power 2009, an international forum held by the China Electricity Council in Tianjing from November 3-5, 2009.

China's installed capacity of power increased to 830 GW at the end of September 2009, from 357 GW at the end of 2002, with an annual average increase of more than 72 GW, said Xie Zhenhua, deputy chairman of China Electricity Council, at the forum.

From January to September 2009, China's installation capacity of newly commissioned power units reached 49.12 GW, including 12.1 GW of hydropower, accounting for 24.6% of the total, and 4.07 GW of wind power. In addition to fast growth in installed capacity, the power source structure has become more reasonable. In the thermal power sector, as of the end of the first half this year, China had eliminated 7,467 inefficient small thermal power units, with a total installed capacity of more than 54.07 GW, achieving the shutdown target of 50 GW of such units specified in the "11th five-year plan," one and a half years ahead of schedule.

Since implementing the Renewable Energy Law in January 2006, both the installed capacity and output of renewable energy in China have been growing year by year. As of the end of 2008, China's installed capacity of clean energy and new energy, such as hydropower, wind power and nuclear power, had reached 189.84 GW, accounting for about 24% of the total installed capacity. Of which, the installed capacity of hydropower, nuclear power and solar energy reached 172.6 GW, 9.08 GW and 0.14 GW, respectively. The installed capacity of biomass power even surpassed 3 GW.

"Despite of the swift development, there are also some problems that need to be solved during the development, such as further enhancement for united planning; the lack of harmony between the grid and renewable energy development; the lack of harmony between renewable energy and traditional energy development; the lack of standards and a system for renewable energy; as well as surplus in production capacity," said Xie.

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