China maintains thirst for power
Friday, 28 December 2007
Richard McGregor from Beijing
The surge in Chinese power demand continued unabated this year, with the country adding capacity equivalent to that of the UK's entire electricity grid.
About 85 per cent of the new generating capacity of 90GW is coal-fired, highlighting the significant pressure on China at the talks in Bali last week over a global agreement to cut greenhouse emissions.
Although its economy is one-quarter to one-third the size of the US, China will take over as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases this year, says the International Energy Agency.
Even with the surge in capacity, the newly generated power has easily been absorbed by a fast-growing economy still propelled by big investments in energy-intensive industries, such as steel, aluminium and cement.
"We are barely keeping up with demand," said Jim Brock, a Beijing-based energy consultant.
Like the Chinese economy, which is on track to record its fifth straight year of double-digit growth, the growth in power demand in China has continued to surprise.
Power demand this year has grown at an annualised rate of 16.2 per cent, well ahead of the 2006 rate of 13.7 per cent, although it has slowed slightly in recent months.
The official figure for new generating capacity for 2007 has not been announced but calculations by consultancies based on announcements this year put the figure at about 90GWs.
Zhu Songbin, of the Songlin power consultancy in Beijing, said he expected new capacity of 90GWs for 2007, based on the 72.7GWs added in the 10 months to October.
The figure could be even higher if there were a repeat of 2006 when 34GWs of new capacity were added in the last months of the year, largely due to official acknowledgement of power stations built illegally. A record 102GWs was added in 2006.
The rapid growth has produced a surge in new coal-fired plants, as they provide the only affordable energy that can be brought online quickly enough to meet rising demand.
China is investing billions of dollars in nuclear power and renewable energy such as wind power, but none can keep pace with the short-term demands of the economy.
In the 11 months to November, China closed 365 small coal power stations, according to the China Sustainable Energy Foundation, equal to 11GWs of generating capacity.
Once they are taken into account, the net additional capacity is about 80GWs.
Syndication arrangement
with FE
The surge in Chinese power demand continued unabated this year, with the country adding capacity equivalent to that of the UK's entire electricity grid.
About 85 per cent of the new generating capacity of 90GW is coal-fired, highlighting the significant pressure on China at the talks in Bali last week over a global agreement to cut greenhouse emissions.
Although its economy is one-quarter to one-third the size of the US, China will take over as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases this year, says the International Energy Agency.
Even with the surge in capacity, the newly generated power has easily been absorbed by a fast-growing economy still propelled by big investments in energy-intensive industries, such as steel, aluminium and cement.
"We are barely keeping up with demand," said Jim Brock, a Beijing-based energy consultant.
Like the Chinese economy, which is on track to record its fifth straight year of double-digit growth, the growth in power demand in China has continued to surprise.
Power demand this year has grown at an annualised rate of 16.2 per cent, well ahead of the 2006 rate of 13.7 per cent, although it has slowed slightly in recent months.
The official figure for new generating capacity for 2007 has not been announced but calculations by consultancies based on announcements this year put the figure at about 90GWs.
Zhu Songbin, of the Songlin power consultancy in Beijing, said he expected new capacity of 90GWs for 2007, based on the 72.7GWs added in the 10 months to October.
The figure could be even higher if there were a repeat of 2006 when 34GWs of new capacity were added in the last months of the year, largely due to official acknowledgement of power stations built illegally. A record 102GWs was added in 2006.
The rapid growth has produced a surge in new coal-fired plants, as they provide the only affordable energy that can be brought online quickly enough to meet rising demand.
China is investing billions of dollars in nuclear power and renewable energy such as wind power, but none can keep pace with the short-term demands of the economy.
In the 11 months to November, China closed 365 small coal power stations, according to the China Sustainable Energy Foundation, equal to 11GWs of generating capacity.
Once they are taken into account, the net additional capacity is about 80GWs.
Syndication arrangement
with FE