Electricity Consumption and Renewable Usage Have Increased in China While Steady Energy Intensity Has Decreased

Figures for China’s electricity consumption and the energy mix behind it differ across various relevant monitors. The International Energy Agency states China’s electricity consumption for 2018 was roughly 6.833 Terawatt Hours (TWh)—an increase of nearly 1079% since 1990. Coal-generated and hydro-generated electricity made up the largest proportion of the country’s energy usage, followed by wind and nuclear power. Industry and residential consumption accounted for the biggest chunks of these usage levels.

The China Electricity Council published electricity consumption information for the first ten months of 2020 and showed levels to be at 6.030,6 TWh—an increase of 1.8% year-on-year. The Statistical Yearbook of China published a total electricity production of 7.503,43 TWh for 2019, but electricity consumption figures were only available for 2018 with levels of 6.844,9 TWh—up from 623 TWh in 1990. China’s Electricity Council further states that thermal power (coal, oil, gas, residual heat, pressure and gas, waste incineration and biomass) in 2018 and 2019 accounted for nearly 70%, hydro power for more than 17%, and nuclear for 4.6%. Wind made up more than 5% with solar only reaching 2.5%. Coal has traditionally been overwhelmingly abundant in the country and thermal power accounts for a large proportion of energy production in different power generation methods, so it has always been the main source of power generation. However, the share of renewable energy in the energy mix is growing. Hydropower, solar power, wind power, and biomass account for 63.73%, 19.89%, 10.10%, and 5.45% (respectively) of the total renewables share; these levels show an increase of 5.7%, 10.9%, 26.3%, and 20.4% (respectively) on a yearly basis.

In regards to trade, China imported 504 million tons of crude oil and 90 million tons of natural gas in the first 11 months of 2020 (an increase of 9.5% and 3.9%, respectively, from 2019). As well, China imported 265 million tons of coal (10.8% less than the same period of 2019).

In general, the adjustment of China’s energy consumption by fuel type has seen the share of coal (in total energy consumed) decline while the share of oil has gradually increased. Meanwhile, the share of natural gas has rapidly increased and the utilization of nuclear and renewables has rapidly increased.

While overall electric and energy consumption have been steadily increasing since 1990, energy intensity per unit GPD has been continuously decreasing thanks to major efforts in addressing the energy efficiency in industry, residential, construction or transport as well as continual energy structure reform over the past decades. Among the many policies introduced throughout the duration of the 12^th and 13^th Five-Year Plans, greener building codes in construction aim to make the constructed environment more energy efficient. The national strategy of new energy vehicles (2010) and the efforts to electrify the transport system, in combination with increased investments into renewable energy, may well prove to be crucial for achieving China’s carbon neutrality strategy. Energy-efficient production technologies, innovation-promoting programs such as “Made in China 2025”, and policy innovation focused on energy consumption reduction have greatly helped reduce energy intensity in China’s industrial sector.

The coal industry has undergone some changes with older plants shutting down, thus allowing for the development of new plants with “cleaner” technologies. According to the China National Coal Association (CNCA), China has cut 900 million metric tons of old coal capacity so far and resettled one million coal mine employees. Coal is predicted to continue playing a role in the country’s energy profile, albeit a stagnant one. Several of the structurally weaker provinces, like the Northeast and Inner Mongolia, continue to rely on the development of the coal industry in the absence of cleaner economic opportunities. With governments striving to ensure adequate employment opportunities, more needs to be done to effectively reskill workers, establish cleaner economic opportunities, and make sustainably viable in the long-run. In regards to China’s 14^th Five-Year-Plan, the CNCA predicts large-scale coal mines will resort to professional service providers for employee hiring and discharge as employee settlement continues to be challenging with shutdowns of old and small-scale coal mines during supply-side reforms.

Recommendation

Much has been done during the past Five-Year-Plans to balance economic development and prosperity for society while reigning in pollution and emissions. Many existing policies are expected to continue being prosperous, or even strengthened, during the 14^th Five-Year Plan. In addition, several key areas emerge as important for any strategy to successfully achieve carbon neutrality by 2060:

Clear caps on carbon emissions, not just carbon intensity and energy consumption caps. As overall carbon emissions have continued to increase with the expansion of China’s economy and production base, carbon intensity targets alone will not be sufficient guidance to cap overall emissions.
Improved emissions and consumption monitoring systems to be able to provide consistent and current statistics to China’s public as well as to international agencies. Data transparency would help China facilitate tracking of progress and make real-time decisions for adjustments. It would also assist in building China’s credibility for climate leadership in the international community.
Reduce reliance on fossil fuels, such as coal, for power generation and a careful evaluation of what is considered “clean energy”. For example, China considers shale gas to be a clean energy alternative to provide fuel for heating. The country produced 15.4 billion cubic meters of shale gas in 2019. While the gas itself may burn with lower CO₂ emissions, the process of fracking is mired in controversy as the released methane during fracking holds the potential to be more damaging to the environment than the actual CO₂ from the combustion process.
An exit strategy from coal power accompanied by a comprehensive green employment and development program. It is imperative that this strategy address the needs of de-industrialized communities such as: including developing green energy alternatives, re-training and replacing coal industry workers, and alleviating severe unemployment in structurally weak coal-reliant provinces (e.g. the Northeast and Inner Mongolia).
Small- and medium-sized companies ought to relinquish old, high-energy technology in favor of more energy efficient processes as well as have long-term green financing and consulting options. While access to tailored green credit is one element to support positive change, local companies often need access to knowledge of better energy efficiency-technology as well as support in selecting the best technology for their operations and situation. This calls for availability of adequate and affordable consultancy services in addition to green financing tools.

Contact

Premier Li Keqiang / 李克强总理

Website: http://topic.media.gov.cn/topicdata/en/2020/index.html

Jianhua Zhang, Chair of the World Energy Council China Committee

Address: 38 S. Yuetan Street, Sanlihe, Beijing

Telephone: +8610 68589255

Website: https://www.worldenergy.org/impact-communities/members/entry/china

Learn More

Statistical Yearbook of China 2019: http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/PressRelease/202002/t20200228_1728917.html

Statistics of China Power Industry 2018 in: https://english.cec.org.cn/detail/index.html?3-794

Oil majors expand wind power campaign in: https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202012/09/WS5fd023ffa31024ad0ba9ab8b.html

China’s latest trading data surprises the market in: https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202012/09/WS5fd06583a31024ad0ba9ad0c.html

Chinese President Xi Jinping addresses the Climate Ambition Summit via video link on Dec 12, 2020. – indicates new NDCs

https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202012/12/WS5fd4e1b5a31024ad0ba9b77e.html

Dong2017_Article_AReviewOfChinaSEnergyConsumpti.pdf in: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12182-016-0136-z

Climate change: China’s coal addiction clashes with Xi’s bold promise in: https://www.ft.com/content/9656e36c-ba59-43e9-bf1c-c0f105813436

https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202012/02/WS5fc6edc6a31024ad0ba99428.html

This Post was submitted by Climate Scorecard China Country Manager Annette Weidenbach

中国

热点聚焦：中国用电量和可再生能源使用量增加，能源强度稳步下降

各类监测报告提供的用电量及能量组合数据都不尽相同。国际能源署指出，中国2018年的用电量约为6.833兆瓦时，自1990年以来增长近1079％。其中煤炭和水力发电占比最大，其次是风能和核能。电力消费则集中在工业和民用两大领域。

中国电力企业联合会发布报告，称2020年前十个月的用电总量为6.030,6兆瓦时，同比增长1.8％。《中国统计年鉴》显示2019年的总发电量为7.503.43兆瓦时，而用电量只显示2018年的数据，为6.844,9兆瓦时，远超1990年的623兆瓦时。《年鉴》还指出，2018年、2019年的火力发电（燃煤、燃油、燃气、住宅供暖、高压和蒸汽、垃圾焚烧和生物质能）占总发电量的近70％，水电占17％左右，核电占4.6％。风能占5％左右，太阳能约占2.5％。中国煤炭储存向来极其丰富，火力发电所占比例很高，是主要的发电方式。然而，可再生能源在能源结构中的份额一直在增长。水电、太阳能、风能和生物质能分别占可再生能源总份额的63.73％，19.89％，10.10％和5.45％，同比增长分别为5.7％，10.9％，26.3％和20.4％。

在进口方面，2020年的前11个月中国进口了5.04亿吨原油和9000万吨天然气，分别比去年同期增长了9.5％和3.9％。同时，中国进口了2.65亿吨煤炭，比2019年同期减少10.8％。

总而言之，中国逐渐调整了能源消费的燃料类型，督促煤炭在能源消费总量所占的比重持续下降，与此同时石油所占的比重逐渐增加，天然气、核能和可再生能源的利用率则迅速提高。

从1990年以来，总体电力和能源消费量一直稳步增长，而且在过去的几十年里，随着工业、住宅、建筑和运输方面能源效率的提高及整个能源市场结构改革的推进，单位GDP的能源强度得到不断下降。“十二五”和“十三五”规划期内推出的许多政策中，建筑行业的绿色建筑法规使建筑环境更加节能；新能源汽车的国家战略（2010年）以及交通运输系统电气化的努力以及对可再生能源投资的增加，都是中国碳中和战略至关重要的环节。工业方面，减少初级能耗、提高准入门槛（鼓励创新、先进和高效生产技术）及诸如“中国制造2025”之类的技术创新行动计划已在降低能源强度方面初显成效。

同时，中国的煤炭行业也发生了变化。政府关闭了一些技术老旧的燃煤电厂，为“更清洁”的电厂腾出了空间。根据中国煤炭工业协会的数据，迄今为止中国已削减了9亿吨旧煤产能，并重新安置了100万煤矿工人。尽管煤炭行业不太景气，但预计煤炭将继续发挥其重要作用。在缺乏清洁经济的省份，例如类似结构性脆弱的中国东北和内蒙古，经济发展则仍然依赖煤炭工业。政府力图保障充足的就业岗位，投入更大精力对工人进行再培训，同时创造更清洁的经济机会并确保其长期可行性。根据中国煤炭工业协会还预测，在“十四五”期间，大型煤矿将寻求专业外包服务聘用和解雇员工。事实已经证明，改革期间关停老旧和小规模的煤矿时，员工安置是一个挑战。