Developing Environment-friendly Advanced Electric Powern Technology to Promote Sustainable Development in China

Liu Deshun, Zheng Zhaoning, Pan Tao

Modern Management Research Center

Energy-Environment-Economy Research Institute, Tsinghua University

Ⅰ.Introduction

Sustainable development is strategic requirement and inevitable choice for national economic development in China, and has already become a decided basic state policy. For the purpose of successfully realizing the sustainable development in China, each kind of resources must be sure of sufficiently supply. An ambitious strategic plan is that, by 2050s, China will accomplish its modernization and become a middle-developed nation, and people will obtain much better material life standard. Energy is the driving force of sustainable development, thus, with the economic development and the improvement living standard, the demand for energy, especially clean energy with high quality, will be remarkably increasing. Electricity is the only secondary high quality energy that can be generated from various kinds of energy resources, such as coal, hydropower, nuclear power, and renewable energy resources. Power industry will act a more and more important role in both energy demand and energy supply with the development of society and economy. The achievement of China’s ambitious object, sustainable development, is, to large extent, determined by whether energy supply, especially electricity supply, can meet the requirement of the economic development.

As a public utility, electricity sector is the infrastructure of the national economy as well as the social development. Electrification is one of the important signs measuring the level of modernization. Electricity first is an objective law of economic growth. The policy that electricity construction should reasonably take priority in the economic development has been maintained since the establishment of P.R. China 50 years ago. The elasticity ration of electricity production has always been high, greater than 1 during most of years and surpassing the elasticity ration of energy production for more than 20 years (see annex table 1). The pressure of electricity shortage has been mitigated much as a result of 20 years’ capacity building, and in some provinces and regions surplus electricity occurs. But one thing we must note is that, China is still a comparatively poor developing country with low level of energy and power demand (see annex table 2). Compared with modern society established on the basis of high level of energy consumption, China still has a long way ahead. By the end of 2000，the gross installed capacity of China has amounted to 319.3209GW, and annual electricity generation has reached 1368.484 billion kWh1. Small thermal power generators of about 2300MW total capacity were closed in 2001 while about 14980 MW new large and medium power generators were built. The annual electricity generation has reached 14789TWh, ranking the second of the world. But the per capita installed capacity was only 0.25 kW in 2000, and the per capita power generation only 1150 kWh in 2001, barely half the level of the world average 2252 kWh of 1998, and one seventh of the per capita consumption of 7751 kWh in OECD countries of 1998. In China, high quality energy,

As a public utility, electricity sector is the infrastructure of the national economy as well as the social development. Electrification is one of the important signs measuring the level of modernization. Electricity first is an objective law of economic growth. The policy that electricity construction should reasonably take priority in the economic development has been maintained since the establishment of P.R. China 50 years ago. The elasticity ration of electricity production has always been high, greater than 1 during most of years and surpassing the elasticity ration of energy production for more than 20 years (see annex table 1). The pressure of electricity shortage has been mitigated much as a result of 20 years’ capacity building, and in some provinces and regions surplus electricity occurs. But one thing we must note is that, China is still a comparatively poor developing country with low level of energy and power demand (see annex table 2). Compared with modern society established on the basis of high level of energy consumption, China still has a long way ahead. By the end of 2000，the gross installed capacity of China has amounted to 319.3209GW, and annual electricity generation has reached 1368.484 billion kWh1. Small thermal power generators of about 2300MW total capacity were closed in 2001 while about 14980 MW new large and medium power generators were built. The annual electricity generation has reached 14789TWh, ranking the second of the world. But the per capita installed capacity was only 0.25 kW in 2000, and the per capita power generation only 1150 kWh in 2001, barely half the level of the world average 2252 kWh of 1998, and one seventh of the per capita consumption of 7751 kWh in OECD countries of 1998. In China, high quality energy,

1http://www.doczj.com/doc/c40f2aa6bd64783e08122b39.html /statistic/to-2000.htm2000年电力工业情况