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China's Energy Industrial Revolution (Part 2)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2025

Hao Tan
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China's energy strategies have attracted a huge amount of attention, precisely because they have been so effective. Chinese energy companies - from global oil and gas giants, to new wind and solar power success stories as well as electric grid operators, not to mention rising Electric Vehicle (EV) producers - have all had an impact on the industry, and sometimes shaken it up. In solar Photovoltaic (PV) cells there are aggressive counter-moves being made by both the US (and potentially the EU) against Chinese subsidized exports. These threaten to spill over into related sectors, and could trigger an all-out trade war.

Keywords

Renewablesenergy intensitycoalChinacarbon emissions
Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 10 , Issue 52 , December 2012 , e6
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2012

References

Notes

1 According to the data available at the China Electricity Council, China added 58.3 GW of conventional thermal electricity capacity in 2010, 58.9 GW in 2011, and 35.6 GW from January to November in 2012.

2 Accounts of China's energy revolution that emphasize its dependence on fossil fuels, and particularly coal, include the regularly updated accounts from the US Energy Information Administration (at: http://www.eia.gov/countries/cab.cfm?fips=CH] and the report from Goldman Sachs, ‘Sustainable growth in China: Spotlight on energy’ (August 2012], at: http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/topics/environment-and-energy/sustainable-growth-china.html

3 The data from China Electricity Council (CEC) are: Total investment in new capacity for the first 11 months of 2012: RMB 302 billion (US$48.3 b] - of which, RMB 79.4 billion in thermal, while RMB 102.8 billion in hydro, 49.5 billion in wind and RMB 65.0 billion in nuclear, with the balance coming from solar and bioenergy.

4 According to the China Electricity Council (CEC), for the first 11 months of 2012, China added 57.3 GW of electricity capacity in total, in which thermal, hydro and wind accounts for 35.6 GW, 13.1 GW and 8.2 GW respectively. See the latest brief (in Chinese] at http://tj.cec.org.cn/fenxiyuce / yunxingfenxi/yuedufenxi/2012-12-17/94911.html

5 According to Lin Boqiang, Director of the China Centre for Energy Economics Research (CCEER) at Xiamen University, investment in coal-fired power stations in 2012 would amount to about 100 billion yuan ($15 billion] - half the level of 2005.

6 See ‘China cancels 1-yr control on thermal coal prices’, China Daily, 32 Dec 2012, available at: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-12/23 / content_16044457.htm

7 See ERI. 2009. China's Low Carbon Development Pathways by 2050: Scenario Analysis of Energy Demand and Carbon Emissions. NDRC Energy Research Institute Research Team. Science Press. Beijing. (in Chinese]

8 These energy intensity data include projections of China's future GDP, as follows:

Period 2005-10 2010-20 2020-30 2030-40 2040-50
Average GDP Growth per Year (%) 9.67 8.38 7.11 4.98 3.6

Source: Adapted from ERI. 2009. China's Low Carbon Development Pathways by 2050: Scenario Analysis of Energy Demand and Carbon Emissions. NDRC Energy Research Institute Research Team. Science Press. Beijing. (in Chinese]

9 See ‘China's latest energy consumption data reveals new opportunities and challenges’, China FAQs, Nov 5 2012, at: http://www.chinafaqs.org/blog-posts/chinas-latest-energy-consumption-data-reveals-new- opportunities-and-challenges-0

10 This is supported by Liu et al. (2011) ‘Development forecast of renewable energy in China and its influence on the GHG control strategy of the country’. Renewable Energy, 26: 1284-1292, who estimates that the emission factors of hydro, wind, solar and biomass-based electricity are 17, 36, 57, and 46 g CO2 / kWh compared with 1017 g CO2 / kWh by coal-fired power plants,

11 See the Carbon Mitigation Initiative website, and the presentation on Stabilization wedges: http://cmi.princeton.edu/wedges/slides.php