In recent years, China's clean energy sector has continued to expand, and the construction of a clean, low-carbon, safe, and efficient energy system is accelerating. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the proportion of coal consumption in China has dropped by 8.1 percentage points, while the proportion of clean energy consumption has increased by 6.3 percentage points. The first meeting of the Central Financial and Economic Commission held recently pointed out that it is necessary to adjust the energy structure, reduce coal consumption, and increase the use of clean energy.
In China’s primary energy consumption, fossil energy—coal in particular—has long dominated. For a long time, coal utilization in the country has been largely an extensive process. It is understood that the complete combustion of 1 ton of commercial coal (calculated as standard coal) generates approximately 2.64 tons of carbon dioxide, along with about 200–300 kg of ash and slag, 12–15 kg of sulfur dioxide, 50–70 kg of dust, and 16–20 kg of nitrogen oxides.
In 2017, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the National Energy Administration (NEA) jointly issued the Strategy for the Revolution in Energy Production and Consumption (2016–2030). The document clearly states that by 2020, the total energy consumption should be controlled within 5 billion tons of standard coal; the proportion of coal consumption should be further reduced; clean energy should become the main source of incremental energy supply; significant progress should be made in energy structure adjustment; the share of non-fossil energy in total energy consumption should reach 15%; and carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) should decrease by 18% compared with 2015 levels.
According to recently released data, China’s energy structure is transitioning from a coal-dominated model to a diversified one, and the driving force behind energy development is shifting from the growth of traditional energy to that of new energy sources.
In Terms of Scale
Statistics show that by the end of 2017, the total installed power generation capacity across the country had reached 1.78 billion kilowatts, while the installed capacity of renewable energy power generation stood at approximately 650 million kilowatts. In 2017, the annual power generation of photovoltaic (PV) systems in China exceeded 100 billion kilowatt-hours for the first time; natural gas output reached around 150 billion cubic meters, moving China from the 18th place to the 6th place globally in terms of natural gas production.
In Terms of Quality
On the supply side: The development of clean energy is advancing from resource-concentrated regions to load-concentrated regions, and a pattern featuring both centralized and distributed development is gradually taking shape.
On the consumption side: Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the proportion of coal consumption has dropped by a total of 8.5 percentage points, while the proportion of clean energy consumption has increased significantly. In 2017, the consumption shares of non-fossil energy and natural gas reached 13.8% and 7% respectively, rising by a cumulative 4.1 and 2.2 percentage points. Additionally, the amount of electricity substitution exceeded 100 billion kilowatt-hours, and natural gas substitution reached 30 billion cubic meters.
In Terms of Efficiency
The curtailment of hydropower, wind power, and photovoltaic (PV) power involves multiple factors and has long been a "persistent problem" hindering the development of clean energy. Beyond this, other difficulties in clean energy consumption include: the lack of an established renewable energy power quota system; some provinces prioritizing power generation from local coal-fired power units, resulting in low enthusiasm for absorbing external new energy power; and an incomplete market mechanism, which prevents new energy power generation from leveraging its advantage of low marginal costs.
Fortunately, the difficulties in clean energy consumption are being significantly alleviated, and the curtailment rates of hydropower, wind power, and PV power are declining. The National Energy Work Conference identified "focusing on resolving clean energy consumption issues" as one of the key tasks for 2018, proposing to promote a yearly reduction in the volume of curtailed hydropower, wind power, and PV power as well as in curtailment rates, with the goal of basically resolving this problem nationwide by 2020.
"The solution should adhere to the combination of government guidance and market leadership, national coordination and local utilization, standardized power supply and optimized transmission channels, and technological innovation and institutional reform," the National Energy Work Conference stated. It further proposed that by the end of the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, China should cancel or postpone approximately 150 million kilowatts of coal-fired power construction projects, phase out 20 million kilowatts of outdated coal-fired power capacity, and reduce the proportion of coal-fired power installed capacity to approximately 55%.
(Source: Xinhua Energy Network)
