Despite increasing international pressure on China for stronger energy conservation, emissions reductions and environmental protection, coal-fired power will remain the major power source for the country during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015), according to a report by Industrial Info Resources. The total construction of coal-fired power during this time will be worth about 260 to 270 gigawatts (GW); of which, the capacity of new coal-fired power plants that are scheduled to kick off construction will be worth 80 gigawatts in 2011, according to an arrangement that was made at the national energy working conference, which was held recently in Beijing.
In the past five years, Industrial Info reports China”s installed capacity increased by more than 430 GW to 950 GW at the end of 2010, ranking top in the world. Although renewable energy and new energy have experienced a rapid development in China in recent year — with the installed capacity of hydropower surpassing 200 GW for the first time and the newly added installed capacity of hydropower reaching 90 GW, which almost equaled the total of the previous 95 years — as of the end of 2010, more than 70 percent of the electricity supply in China still came from thermal power.
In order to achieve better results in energy conservation and emissions reductions, Industrial Info says China shut down 72.1 GW of smaller coal-fired units, and the proportion of units with a single capacity of more than 300 megawatts reached more than 70 percent of the total installed capacity of coal-fired units in China. During the 12th Five-Year Plan, China will continue to replace small units with larger ones and attach top priority to the optimal development of coal-fired power, especially in its regional layout.
To read the full Industrial Info report on this story, CLICK HERE.
