Economic Trend News
- China looks to energy independence (2)
Date: 9-Oct-2007 Sources: (People's Daily)
The power sector itself is a lavish energy consumer. To avoid loss of energy in the process of production, 1,000 MW of supercritical, extra-supercritical coal-fueled generators and nuclear power units are replacing small units to become the main production force of the industry.
Long distance transmission, a necessary operation due to the uneven distribution of resources, is applying ultra high voltage technology. Projects are underway for two demonstration UHV power lines totaling 2,088 km.
For the same reason, the government has banned the extraction of petroleum if accompanying combustible gas is let loose and not collected.
With the swift growth of China's economy, demand for energy has inevitably risen too. Conservation may help slow down -- but not stop -- the climb of the latter.
According to Zhao Xiaoping, director of the energy bureau of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's highest economic planning department, the government is aiming to curtail primary energy consumption to within 2.7 billion tons of coal equivalent (CE) in 2010.
Given the economic situation and the self-reliance policy, conservation in the sense of preserving reserves for future use is not an option. Digging and extraction have to be accelerated to meet the surging demand.
China's energy consumption totaled 2.46 billion CE tons in 2006, the second highest in the world. It was also the world's second largest energy producer, producing 2.21 billion CE tons the same year. This breaks down to 2.38 billion tons of coal, 184 million tons of crude oil, and 58.55 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
Coal has dominated the energy portfolio and China is the world's biggest coal extractor. In the last two decades, the proportion of coal in total energy consumption dropped from 76 percent to 68 percent. The share is expected to fall further, chiefly because of environmental concerns. But output is not likely to decline in the coming years.
Neither is oil and gas production likely to slow. China's oil production ranked the fifth in the world. The country is constructing four oil contingency reserves for times of short supply. On completion in 2008 the facilities will be able to meet the nation's oil needs for at least 10 days.
China is also actively promoting nuclear power. At present, nine units totaling 6,990 MW of generating capacity are in commercial operation. The target is to build 30 units with 40,000 MW of generating capacity by the year 2020, when the ratio of nuclear energy in total power capacity would climb to 4 percent.
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