Electric Power Industry In China
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China's electric power industry is the world's largest electricity producer, passing the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
in 2011 after rapid growth since the early 1990s. In 2019,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
produced more electricity than the next three countries—U.S., India, and Russia—combined. Most of the electricity in China comes from coal, which accounted for 65% of the electricity generation mix in 2019. This is a big part of
greenhouse gas emissions by China Greenhouse gas emissions by China are the largest of any country in the world both in Greenhouse gas emissions accounting, production and Greenhouse gas emissions accounting, consumption terms, and stem mainly from Coal in China, coal burning in ...
. However, electricity generation by renewables has been increasing steadily, from 615,005 GWh (17.66% of total) in 2008 to 2,082,800 GWh (27.32% of total) in 2020. By the end of 2019, China's installed capacity for renewable energy was about 795 GW, while coal power capacity was 1040 GW. In 2020, China added 48GW of solar power and 71GW of wind power, and 13GW of hydropower, thus bringing the total installed renewable capacity to more than 900 GW. Out of the 900GW, solar power contributed 252GW while wind power contributed 281 GW, which was generated by more than 135,000 turbines. Coal-fired electricity production declined from 2013 to 2016 coinciding with a major boom in
renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
, and a decline in GDP growth. China has two
wide area synchronous grid A wide area synchronous grid (also called an "interconnection" in North America) is a three-phase electric power grid that has regional scale or greater that operates at a synchronized utility frequency and is electrically tied together during no ...
s, the
State Grid The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), commonly known as the State Grid, is a Chinese state-owned electric utility corporation. It is the largest utility company in the world, and as of 2022, the world's third largest company overall by re ...
and the China Southern Power Grid. The northern power grids were synchronized in 2005. Since 2011 all Chinese provinces are interconnected. The two grids are joined by HVDC
back-to-back connection A back-to-back connection is the direct connection of the output of one device to the input of a similar or related device. Telecommunications In telecommunications, a back-to-back connection can be formed by connecting a transmitter directly to a ...
s. China has abundant energy with the world's fourth-largest
coal reserves Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when de ...
and massive
hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
resources. There is however a geographical mismatch between the location of the coal fields in the north-east (
Heilongjiang Heilongjiang () formerly romanized as Heilungkiang, is a province in northeast China. The standard one-character abbreviation for the province is (). It was formerly romanized as "Heilungkiang". It is the northernmost and easternmost province ...
,
Jilin Jilin (; alternately romanized as Kirin or Chilin) is one of the three provinces of Northeast China. Its capital and largest city is Changchun. Jilin borders North Korea (Rasŏn, North Hamgyong, Ryanggang and Chagang) and Russia (Prim ...
, and
Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...
) and north (
Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...
,
Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see #Name, § Name) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichu ...
, and
Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...
), hydropower in the south-west (
Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
,
Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...
, and
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
), and the fast-growing industrial load centers of the east (
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
-
Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...
) and south (
Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
,
Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...
).


History

In April 1996, an Electric Power Law was implemented, a major event in China's electric power industry. The law set out to promote the development of the
electric power industry The electric power industry covers the generation, transmission, distribution and sale of electric power to the general public and industry. The commodity sold is actually energy, not power, e.g. consumers pay for kilowatt-hours, power multipli ...
, to protect the legal rights of investors, managers, and consumers, and to regulate the generation, distribution, and consumption. Before 1994 electricity supply was managed by electric power bureaus of the provincial governments. Now
utilities A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and r ...
are managed by corporations outside of the government administration structure. To end the State Power Corporation's (SPC) monopoly of the power industry, China's State Council dismantled the corporation in December 2002 and set up 11 smaller companies. SPC had owned 46% of the country's electrical generation assets and 90% of the electrical supply assets. The smaller companies include two electric power grid operators, five electric power generation companies, and four relevant business companies. Each of the five electric power generation companies owns less than 20% (32 GW of electricity generation capacity) of China's market share for electric power generation. Ongoing reforms aim to separate power plants from power-supply networks, privatize a significant amount of state-owned property, encourage competition, and revamp pricing mechanisms. It is expected that the municipal electric power companies will be divided into electric power generating and electric power supply companies. A policy of competition between the different generators will be implemented in the next years. South China from the Changjiang valley down to the South China Sea was the first part of the economy to liberalize in the 1980s and 1990s and is home to much of the country's most modern and often foreign-invested manufacturing industries. Northern and northeastern China's older industrial base has fallen behind, remains focused on the domestic economy, and has suffered a relative decline. In recent history, China's power industry is characterized by fast growth and an enormous installed base. In 2014, it had the largest installed electricity generation capacity in the world with 1505 GW and generated 5583 TWh China also has the largest thermal power capacity, the largest hydropower capacity, the largest wind power capacity and the largest solar capacity in the world. Despite an expected rapid increase in installed capacity scheduled in 2014 for both wind and solar, and an expected increase to 60 GW in nuclear by 2020, coal will still account for between 65% and 75% of capacity in 2020. In Spring 2011, according to ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', shortages of electricity existed, and power outages should be anticipated. The government-regulated price of electricity had not matched rising prices for coal. In 2020,
Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...
general secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...
Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...
announced that China aims to go carbon-neutral by 2060 in accordance with the
Paris climate accord The Paris Agreement (french: Accord de Paris), often referred to as the Paris Accords or the Paris Climate Accords, is an international treaty on climate change. Adopted in 2015, the agreement covers climate change mitigation, adaptation, and ...
.


Production and capacity

;ChinaEnergyPortal.org China Energy Portal publishes Chinese energy policy, news, and statistics and provides tools for their translation into English. Translations on this site depend entirely on contributions from its readers. 2020 electricity & other energy statistics (preliminary) (Note that change in generation capacity is new installations minus retirements.) ;National Bureau of Statistics of China The official Statistics available in English are not all up to date. Numbers are given in "(100 million kw.h)" which equals 100 GWh or 0.1 TWh.


Sources


Coal power

China is the largest producer and consumer of coal in the world and is the largest user of coal-derived electricity. However, coal has been falling as a percentage of the
energy mix The energy mix is a group of different primary energy sources from which secondary energy for direct use - such as electricity - is produced. Energy mix refers to all direct uses of energy, such as transportation and housing, and should not be c ...
, from over 80% in 2007 to 64% in 2018. Coal electricity generation has also declined in absolute terms since 2014. Despite China (like other G20 countries) pledging in 2009 to end inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, there are direct subsidies and the main way coal power is favoured is by the rules guaranteeing its purchase – so dispatch order is not
merit order The merit order is a way of ranking available sources of energy, especially electrical generation, based on ascending order of price (which may reflect the order of their short-run marginal costs of production) and sometimes pollution, together w ...
. To curtail the continued rapid construction of coal fired power plants, strong action was taken in April 2016 by the
National Energy Administration The National Development and Reform Commission of the People's Republic of China (NDRC), formerly State Planning Commission and State Development Planning Commission, is a macroeconomic management agency under the State Council, which has br ...
(NEA), which issued a directive curbing construction in many parts of the country. This was followed up in January 2017 when the NEA canceled a further 103 coal power plants, eliminating 120 GW of future coal-fired capacity, despite the resistance of local authorities mindful of the need to create jobs. The decreasing rate of construction is due to the realization that too many power plants had been built and some existing plants were being used far below capacity. In 2020 over 40% of plants were estimated to be running at a net loss and new plants may become
stranded asset Stranded assets are "assets that have suffered from unanticipated or premature write-downs, devaluations or conversion to liabilities". Stranded assets can be caused by a variety of factors and are a phenomenon inherent in the 'creative destructi ...
s. In 2021 some plants were reported close to bankruptcy due to being forbidden to raise electricity prices in line with high coal prices. In 2019, reports show that approvals for new coal mines had increased fivefold over approvals in 2018, and the China State Grid Corporation forecast that total coal power plant capacity would peak at 1,230–1,350 GW, an increase of about 200–300 GW. The
think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...
Carbon Tracker Carbon Tracker is a London-based not-for-profit think tank researching the impact of climate change on financial markets. Carbon Tracker popularized the notion of a carbon bubble, which describes the incompatibility between the continued devel ...
estimated the average loss was about US$4/MWh and that about 60% of power stations were cashflow negative in 2018 and 2019. In 2020 Carbon Tracker estimated that 43% of coal-fired plants were already more expensive than new renewables and that 94% would be by 2025. According to a 2020 analysis by Energy Foundation China, in order to keep warming to 1.5 degrees C coal plants without carbon capture must be phased out by 2045. A 2021 study estimated that all coal power plants could be shut down by 2040, by retiring them at the end of their financial lifetime.


Hydropower

Hydroelectricity is currently China's largest
renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
source and the second overall after coal. China's installed hydro capacity in 2015 was 319 GW, up from 172 GW in 2009, including 23 GW of
pumped storage hydroelectricity Pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PSH), or pumped hydroelectric energy storage (PHES), is a type of hydroelectric energy storage used by electric power systems for load balancing. The method stores energy in the form of gravitational potential ...
capacity. In 2015, hydropower generated 1,126 TWh of power, accounting for roughly 20% of China's total electricity generation. Due to China's insufficient reserves of fossil fuels and the government's preference for energy independence, hydropower plays a big part in the energy policy of the country. China's potential hydropower capacity is estimated at up to 600 GW, but currently, the technically exploitable and economically feasible capacity is around 500 GW. There is therefore the considerable potential for further hydro development. The country has set a 350 GW capacity target for 2020. Being flexible, existing hydropower can back up large amounts of solar and wind. Hydroelectric plants in China have relatively low productivity, with an average capacity factor of 31%, a possible consequence of rushed construction and the seasonal variability of rainfall. Moreover, a significant amount of energy is lost due to the need for long transmission lines to connect the remote plants to where demand is most concentrated. Although hydroelectricity represents the largest renewable and low greenhouse gas emissions energy source in the country, the social and environmental impact of dam construction in China has been large, with millions of people forced to relocate and large scale damage to the environment.


Wind power

With its large land mass and long coastline, China has exceptional wind resources:Oceans of Opportunity: Harnessing Europe’s largest domestic energy resource
pp. 18–19. Ewea.org
it is estimated China has about 2,380 GW of exploitable capacity on land and 200 GW on the sea. At the end of 2014, there was 114 GW of electricity generating capacity installed in China, more than the total nameplate capacity of China's nuclear power stations, (although capacity of wind power is not on par with capacity of nuclear power) and over the year 115,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of wind electricity had been provided to the grid. In 2011, China's plan was to have 100 GW of wind power capacity by the end of 2015, with an annual wind generation of 190 terawatt-hours (TWh).
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
has identified
wind power Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wi ...
as a key growth component of the country's economy.


Nuclear power

In terms of nuclear power generation, China will advance from a moderate development strategy to an accelerating development strategy. Nuclear power will play an even more important role in China's future power development. Especially in the developed coastal areas with heavy power loads, nuclear power will become the backbone of the power structure there. China has planned to build up another 30 sets of nuclear power generators within 15 years with a total installed capacity of 80 GW by 2020, accounting for about 4% of China's total installed capacity of the electric power industry. This percentage is expected to double every 10 years for several decades out. Plans are for 200 GW installed by 2030 which will include a large shift to Fast
Breeder reactor A breeder reactor is a nuclear reactor that generates more fissile material than it consumes. Breeder reactors achieve this because their neutron economy is high enough to create more fissile fuel than they use, by irradiation of a fertile mate ...
and 1500 GW by the end of this century.


Solar power

China is the world's largest market for both
photovoltaics Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially us ...
and
solar thermal energy Solar thermal energy (STE) is a form of energy and a technology for harnessing solar energy to generate thermal energy for use in industry, and in the residential and commercial sectors. Solar thermal collectors are classified by the United St ...
. Of the 7,623 TWh electricity produced in China in 2020, 261.1 TWh was generated by solar power, equivalent to 3.43% of total electricity production. This was a 289% increase since 2016, when production was 67.4 TWh, equivalent to an annual growth rate of 40.4%. China has been the world's leading installer of solar photovoltaics since 2013 (see also
growth of photovoltaics Worldwide growth of photovoltaics has been close to exponential between 1992 and 2018. During this period of time, photovoltaics (PV), also known as solar PV, evolved from a niche market of small-scale applications to a mainstream electricity ...
), and the world's largest producer of photovoltaic power since 2015. In 2017 China was the first country to pass 100 GW of cumulative installed PV capacity. However electricity prices are not properly varied by time of day, so do not properly incentivize system balancing.
Solar water heating Solar water heating (SWH) is heating water by sunlight, using a solar thermal collector. A variety of configurations are available at varying cost to provide solutions in different climates and latitudes. SWHs are widely used for residential a ...
is also extensively implemented, with a total installed capacity of 290
GWth The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James W ...
at the end of 2014, representing about 70% of world's total installed solar thermal capacity. The goal for 2050 is to reach 1,300GW of Solar Capacity. If this goal is to be reached it would be the biggest contributor to Chinese electricity demand.


Natural gas


Biomass and waste


Storage and demand response

Energy storage and
demand response Demand response is a change in the power consumption of an electric utility customer to better match the demand for power with the supply. Until the 21st century decrease in the cost of pumped storage and batteries electric energy could not be ...
are important for replacing coal generation.


Transmission infrastructure

The central government has made the creation of a unified national grid system a top economic priority to improve the efficiency of the whole
power system An electric power system is a network of electrical components deployed to supply, transfer, and use electric power. An example of a power system is the electrical grid that provides power to homes and industries within an extended area. The ...
and reduce the risk of localised
energy shortage An energy crisis or energy shortage is any significant bottleneck in the supply of energy resources to an economy. In literature, it often refers to one of the energy sources used at a certain time and place, in particular, those that supply n ...
s. It will also enable the country to tap the enormous hydro potential from
western China Western China (, or rarely ) is the west of China. In the definition of the Chinese government, Western China covers one municipality (Chongqing), six provinces (Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively r ...
to meet booming demand from the eastern coastal provinces. China is planning for
smart grid A smart grid is an electrical grid which includes a variety of operation and energy measures including: *Advanced metering infrastructure (of which smart meters are a generic name for any utility side device even if it is more capable e.g. a f ...
and related
Advanced Metering Infrastructure A smart meter is an electronic device that records information such as consumption of electric energy, voltage levels, current, and power factor. Smart meters communicate the information to the consumer for greater clarity of consumption beha ...
.


Ultra-high-voltage transmission

The main problem in China is the voltage drop when power is sent over very long distances from one region of the country to another. Long distance inter-regional transmission has been implemented by using ultra-high voltages (UHV) of 800 kV, based on an extension of technology already in use in other parts of the world.


Companies

In terms of the
investment Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing i ...
amount of China's listed power companies, the top three regions are
Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
province,
Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...
Autonomous Region and
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
, whose investment ratios are 15.33%, 13.84% and 10.53% respectively, followed by
Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
and
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
. China's listed power companies invest mostly in
thermal power A thermal power station is a type of power station in which heat energy In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary ...
,
hydropower Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, converting the Pot ...
and
thermoelectricity The thermoelectric effect is the direct conversion of temperature differences to electric voltage and vice versa via a thermocouple. A thermoelectric device creates a voltage when there is a different temperature on each side. Conversely, when ...
, with their investments reaching CNY216.38 billion, CNY97.73 billion, and CNY48.58 billion respectively in 2007. Investment in
gas exploration Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for deposits of hydrocarbons, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth using petroleum geology. Exploration methods Vis ...
and
coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
follow as the next prevalent investment occurrences. Major players in China's electric power industry include: The five majors, and their listed subsidiaries: The five majors are all SOEs directly administered by
SASAC The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) is a special commission of the People's Republic of China, directly under the State Council. It was founded in 2003 through the consolidation of vario ...
. Their listed subsidiaries are substantially independent, hence counted as IPPs, and are major power providers in their own right. Typically each of the big 5 has about 10% of national installed capacity, and their listed subsidiary has an extra 4 or 5% on top of that. *
China Datang Corporation China Datang Corporation (CDT) is one of the five large-scale power generation enterprises in China, established on the basis of former State Power Corporation of China in 2002. It is a solely state-owned enterprise directly managed by the S ...
:parent of
Datang International Power Generation Company :''Parent company: China Datang Corporation'' Datang International Power Generation Company Limited (,), simply Datang International Power or Datang Power, is one of the five largest state-owned power producers in China, especially its position in ...
(SEHK: 991; SSE: 601991) * China Guodian Corporation ("Guodian") :parent of
GD Power Development Company GD Power Development Company, or Guodian Power Development Company, the subsidiary of China Guodian Corporation, engages in the generation and supply of electric power and heat. It was founded in 1992 and was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchan ...
(SSE: 600795), * China Huadian Group :parent of
Huadian Power International Huadian Power International Corporation, formerly Shandong International Power Development Company Limited, is the largest power producer in Shandong Province, China, and is the Hong Kong listed subsidiary of China Huadian, one of the five larg ...
Co., Ltd. *
China Huaneng Group China Huaneng Group Co., Ltd., abbreviated as CHNG or Huaneng Group, is one of the five largest state-owned electricity generation enterprises in China, administrated by the State Council. It engages in the investment, construction, operat ...
:parent of Huaneng Power International (NYSE:HNP) *
State Power Investment Corporation State Power Investment Corporation Limited (abbreviation SPIC) is one of the five major electricity generation companies in China. It was the successor of China Power Investment Corporation after it was merged with the State Nuclear Power Tec ...
("SPIC") :parent of
China Power International Development China Power International Development Limited (CPID), also known as just China Power, is a Chinese electric power company incorporated in Hong Kong in 2004. The former ultimate parent company China Power Investment Corporation (CPI Group), a C ...
Limited ("CPID", 2380.HK) Additionally, two other SOEs also have listed IPP subsidiaries: * the coalmine owning
Shenhua Group Shenhua Group Corporation Limited was a Chinese state-owned mining and energy company. Shenhua Group was founded in October 1995 under the auspices of the State Council of the People's Republic of China. It was the largest coal-producing compan ...
:parent of
China Shenhua Energy Company China Shenhua Energy Company Limited, also known as Shenhua, China Shenhua, or Shenhua Energy (), is the largest state-owned coal mining enterprise in Mainland China, and in the world. It is a subsidiary of Shenhua Group. It mines, refines, and se ...
(SEHK: 1088, SSE: 601088) * China Resources Group ("Huarun") :parent of China Resources Power Holdings Company Limited ("CRP", SEHK: 836) Secondary companies: * Shenzhen Energy Co., Ltd. * Guangdong Yuedian Group Co., Ltd. * Anhui Province Energy Group Co., Ltd. * Hebei Jiantou Energy Investment Co., Ltd. *
Guangdong Baolihua New Energy Stock Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) a ...
Co., Ltd. * Shandong Luneng Taishan Cable Co., Ltd. *
Guangzhou Development Industry (Holdings) Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
Co., Ltd. *
Chongqing Jiulong Electric Power Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a municipality in Southwest China. The official abbreviation of the city, "" (), was approved by the State Coun ...
Co., Ltd. *
Chongqing Fuling Electric Power Industrial Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a municipality in Southwest China. The official abbreviation of the city, "" (), was approved by the State Coun ...
Co., Ltd. * Shenergy Company (SSE: 600642), Shanghai. * Shenergy Group, Shanghai. *
Sichuan Chuantou Energy Stock Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestantism in Sichuan, Protestant missions) is a Prov ...
Co., Ltd. * Naitou Securities Co., Ltd. *
Panjiang Coal and Electric Power Group Panjiang Investment Holdings Group, formerly known as Panjiang Coal and Electric Power Group, () is a coal mining and energy company in China. History The company was found in 1966 in Guiyang, Guizhou. The holding is engaged in the coal and relat ...
* Hunan Huayin Electric Power Co., Ltd. *
Shanxi Top Energy Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level ...
Co., Ltd. *
Inner Mongolia Mengdian Huaneng Thermal Power Interior may refer to: Arts and media * ''Interior'' (Degas) (also known as ''The Rape''), painting by Edgar Degas * ''Interior'' (play), 1895 play by Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck * ''The Interior'' (novel), by Lisa See * Interior de ...
Co., Ltd. *
SDIC Huajing Power Holdings SDIC may refer to the following: * San Domingo Improvement Company, an entity formed to assume control of Dominican Republic railroads in its colonial period; see * Singapore Deposit Insurance Corporation, see * Sodium dichloroisocyanurate * Sou ...
Co., Ltd. * Sichuan MinJiang Hydropower Co., Ltd. * Yunnan Wenshan Electric Power Co., Ltd. * Guangxi Guidong Electric Power Co., Ltd. * Sichuan Xichang Electric Power Co., Ltd. * Sichuan Mingxing Electric Power Co., Ltd. * Sichuan Guangan Aaa Public Co., Ltd. * Sichuan Leshan Electric Power Co., Ltd. * Fujian MingDong Electric Power Co., Ltd. *
Guizhou Qianyuan Power Guizhou (; Postal romanization, formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in the Southwest China, southwest region of the China, People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the pr ...
Co., Ltd. Nuclear and hydro: *
China Three Gorges Corporation The China Three Gorges Corporation (CTG; ) is a Chinese state-owned power company, established on 27 September 1993. The company was responsible for the construction of the Three Gorges Dam-project, the world's largest hydroelectric power plant, th ...
*
China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) (), formerly China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (), is a Chinese state-owned energy corporation under the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, SASAC of the State Council of the Peo ...
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China Yangtze Power China Yangtze Power Co., Ltd. (CYPC), known as Yangtze Power is a Chinese utilities company, headquartered in Beijing. The company is a component of SSE 180 Index. A controlling share is held by the parent company China Three Gorges Corporation ...
(listed) *
Sinohydro Corporation Sinohydro (Chinese Language, Chinese: 中国水电; long form: 中国水利水电建设集团公司) is a Chinese SASAC, state-owned hydropower engineering and construction company. In the 2012 Engineering News-Record Top 225 Global Contractors, ...
an engineering company. * Guangdong Meiyan Hydropower Co., Ltd. Grid operators include: *
State Grid Corporation of China The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), commonly known as the State Grid, is a Chinese state-owned electric utility corporation. It is the largest utility company in the world, and as of 2022, the world's third largest company overall by re ...
* China Southern Power Grid * Wenzhou CHINT Group Corporation ("Zhengtai") Creation of a
spot market The spot market or cash market is a public financial market in which financial instruments or commodities are traded for immediate delivery. It contrasts with a futures market, in which delivery is due at a later date. In a spot market, settle ...
has been suggested to properly use energy storage.


Consumption and Territorial differences

More than a third of electricity is used by industry. China consists of three largely self-governing territories: the mainland, Hong Kong, and
Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
. The introduction of electricity to the country was not coordinated between the territories, leading to partially different electrical standards. Mainland China uses type A and I power plugs with 220 V and 50 Hz; Hong Kong and Macau both use type G power plugs with 220 V and 50 Hz. Inter-territorial travelers may therefore require a power adapter.


References


Further reading

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External links

* '
China Electric Power Research Institute
'' – associated with the
State Grid Corporation of China The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), commonly known as the State Grid, is a Chinese state-owned electric utility corporation. It is the largest utility company in the world, and as of 2022, the world's third largest company overall by re ...

Office of the National Energy Leading Group

China Electrotechnical Society

Energy Research Institute of China




2 January 2006 Zhang Mingquan – HK Trade Council
China Electric Power Industry Forum

China EPower Forum
{{Portal bar, China, Energy Industry in China