China Shuts Down 25.87 Gigawatts of Small Thermal Power Units Since 2006

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--From January to June, China shut down small thermal power units totaling about 8.36 gigawatts (GW), accounting for 64.3% of the targeted shutdowns for 2008. China eliminated 3.14 GW in 2006 and 14.38 GW in 2007 of small thermal power units for a total of 25.87 GW in the past two and a half years. The total is 51.74% of the target of 50 GW scheduled to be shut down during the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10), the State Energy Bureau of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced on July 14. By shutting down many small thermal power units, China could save about 32.6 million metric tons of coal per year and reduce sulfur-dioxide emissions by about 550,000 metric tons per year.

Since 2006, 722 coal-fired units with a combined capacity of 20.52 GW have been decommissioned, along with 1,097 oil-fired units totaling 5.36 GW.

The top five provinces to shut down small thermal units were:

1) Jiangsu: 3.2 GW
2) Guangdong: 3.03 GW
3) Shandong: 2.63 GW
4) Anhui: 1.96 GW
5) Henan: 1.8 GW

Local and private enterprises shut down 11.29 GW, or 43.6% of the total. The nation's top five power producers shut down 14.58 GW, accounting for 56.4% of the total:

1) China Datang Corporation (Beijing): 4.13 GW
2) China Huadian Corporation (Beijing): 3.27 GW
3) China Power Investment Corporation (Beijing): 2.88 GW
4) China Huaneng Group (Beijing): 2.2 GW
5) China Guodian Corporation (Beijing): 2.11 GW

China is shutting down many small thermal units that collectively have high energy consumption and heavy emissions of pollutants as an effective way for structural adjustment in its power industry. China began to shut down small thermal power units during the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05) but reached only 8.3 GW of units because of various restrictions. As the country's power industry has experienced swift development and technological advancements, highly efficient large units that are more environmentally friendly have been installed as replacements. In 2006, the NDRC issued a report that was endorsed in 2007 by the State Council to accelerate the shutdown of small thermal units. The report specifies that small units will be replaced with fewer large units.

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