China's Power Generation Capacity Expected to Reach 2 Terawatts in 2020

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--China's power generation capacity is expected to have an annual average growth of 5.5% in the next five years, and the total installed capacity will reach 2 terawatts in 2020, according to the Thirteenth Five-Year (2016-2020) Power Development Plan, published by the National Development Reform Commission (NDRC) and the National Energy Administration (NEA) on November 7.

According to the Plan, China's social power consumption is expected to be about 6.8 trillion to 7.2 trillion kilowatt-hours in 2020, with an annual average growth of 3.6% to 4.8% in the next five years, and the proportion of electricity in the nation's total energy consumption will reach 27% in 2020.

By the end of 2020, the proportion of non-fossil energy consumption will reach about 15% of the total, and the corresponding installation capacity will reach about 770 gigawatts (GW). Of which, the generation capacity of conventional hydropower will reach 340 GW with an annual average growth of 2.8%; that of pumped-storage hydropower will reach 40 GW with an annual average growth of 11.7%; that of nuclear power will reach 58 GW with an annual average growth of 16.5%; that of wind power will reach 210 GW (including about 5 GW of offshore wind power) with an annual average growth of 9.9%; that of solar power (including more than 60 GW of distributed photovoltaic power and 5 GW of solar thermal power) will reach 110 GW with an annual average growth of 21.2%.

In the Plan, for hydropower, top priority will be given to key projects in major river valleys and large-scaled hydropower bases. Development of hydropower in medium and small valleys will be strictly controlled. Wind power development will be based on the principle of attaching equal importance to centralized development and distributed development with power mainly supplied to local users. Photovoltaic power will be mainly given to distributed projects with power supplied to local users. Solar thermal power will be encouraged, and nuclear power will be still focused on coastal areas.

In order to support the large-scale development of wind and solar power, a total of 130 GW of transmission capacity will be added to transfer power from western China to eastern China in the next five years. In total, 92,000 kilometers of transmission lines of 500 kilovolts or above and 920 million kilovolt-amperes of substations will be added by 2020. In order to improve the system regulation capability, about 60 GW of pumped-storage power stations will be kicked off, and the nation's installed capacity of pumped-storage power stations will be expanded from 23 GW to 40 GW by 2020. About 133 GW of cogeneration power units and 82 GW of condensing steam turbine generating units in northern areas, and about 4.5 GW of condensing units in other regions will be upgraded to add 46 GW peak regulation capacity. In addition, more than 5 GW of gas-fired power plants will be built for peak regulation in North China, East China, South China and Northwest regions.

For emission reduction and energy conservation, by cancelling or postponing the construction of more than 150 GW of coal-fired units, the nation's installed capacity of coal-fired units will be maintained within 1,100 GW in 2020. In the next five years, renovation aimed on "ultra-low" emissions will be carried out on 420 GW of units, and 340 GW of units will receive energy conservation renovation. By 2020, all coal-fired units with a capacity above 300 MW will achieve "ultra-low" emission--the same emissions level of a gas-fired unit.

According to the Plan, China will begin to conduct experimental spot trading of electricity by the end of 2018 and will gradually deregulate the current planning on power generation. Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, five offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com.