WNA updated the data on China:
- The impetus for nuclear power in China is increasingly due to air pollution from coal-fired plants.
- China’s policy is to have a closed nuclear fuel cycle.
- China has become largely self-sufficient in reactor design and construction, as well as other aspects of the fuel cycle, but is making full use of western technology while adapting and improving it.
- Relative to the rest of the world, a major strength is the nuclear supply chain.
- China’s policy is to ‘go global’ with exporting nuclear technology including heavy components in the supply chain.
Electricity sector
Total generation (in 2020): 7801 TWh
Generation mix: 4941.3 TWh
(63%) coal; 1355.2 TWh
(17%) hydroelectric; 466.5 TWh
(5%) wind; 366.3 TWh
(5%) nuclear; 256.1 TWh
(3%) natural gas; 262.2 TWh
(3%) solar; 141.2
(2%) biofuels & waste.
Import/export balance: 4.3 TWh net export (17.5 TWh imports; 21.8 TWh exports)
Total consumption: 6872 TWh
Per capita consumption: c. 4850 kWh in 2020
Source: International Energy Agency and The World Bank. Data for year 2020
Most of mainland China's electricity is produced from fossil fuels, predominantly coal – 69% in 2019. Wind and solar capacity in 2019 was 21% of total installed generating capacity, but delivering under 9% of the electricity.
Rapid growth in demand has given rise to power shortages, and the reliance on fossil fuels has led to much air pollution. The economic loss due to pollution is put by the World Bank at almost 6% of GDP,1 and the new leadership from March 2013 prioritized this.* Chronic and widespread smog in the east of the country is attributed to coal burning.
* Official measurements of fine particles in the air measuring less than 2.5 micrometres, which pose the greatest health risk, rose to a record 993 micrograms per cubic metre in Beijing on 12 January 2013, compared with World Health Organization guidelines of no higher than 25.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) notes that since 2012, China has been the country with the largest installed power capacity, and it has increased this by 85% since then to reach 2011 GWe in 2019, about a quarter of global capacity.
In August 2013 the State Council said that China should reduce its carbon emissions by 40-45% by 2020 from 2005 levels, and would aim to boost renewable energy to 15% of its total primary energy consumption by 2020. In 2012 China was the world’s largest source of carbon emissions – 2626 MtC (9.64 Gt CO2), and its increment that year comprised about 70% of the world total increase. In March 2014 the Premier said that the government was declaring “war on pollution” and would accelerate closing coal-fired power stations.
In November 2014 the Premier announced that China intended about 20% of its primary energy consumption to be from non-fossil fuels by 2030, at which time it intended its peak of CO2 emissions to occur. This 20% target is part of the 13th Five-Year Plan and was reiterated at the Paris climate change conference in December 2015, along with reducing CO2 emissions by 60-65% from 2005 levels by 2030. In September 2020, the Premier stated that the country now intends to reach peak emissions before 2030, and to become carbon neutral before 2060.
In the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) for power production announced by the National Energy Administration (NEA) in November 2016, coal capacity was to be limited to 1100 GWe by 2020 by cancelling and postponing about 150 GWe of projects. Gas in 2020 was projected at 110 GWe, hydro 340 GWe, wind 210 GWe, and solar 110 GWe, of which distributed PV was to be 60 GWe. Nuclear 58 GWe was reiterated for 2020. (See below for 2019 generation capacity figures).
A draft of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) released in March 2021 showed government plans to reach 70 GWe gross of nuclear capacity by the end of 2025.
Electricity generation in 2019 increased by 5% compared with the previous year, to 7.3 PWh, according to figures published by the China Electricity Council. That from fossil fuels was 5045 TWh (69%), from hydro 1302 TWh (18%), nuclear 349 TWh (5%), wind 406 TWh (6%) and solar 224 TWh (3%).
China's nuclear generation was 18% higher than in 2018 (295 TWh).
For 2018, total generation was 7.2 PWh. Nuclear generation was 295 TWh gross, just over 4% of the total (IEA figures).
Per capita electricity consumption was 5000 kWh in 2018. By 2050 it is expected to be about 9000 kWh/yr.
Installed generating capacity has been increasing at up to 10% per year since 2010 and reached 2011 GWe at the end of 2019, according to the China Electricity Council. At the end of 2019 fossil fuelled capacity (mostly coal) reached 1191 GWe, hydro capacity was 356 GWe, nuclear capacity was 49 GWe, wind capacity 210 GWe and solar PV 205 GWe.
China is well advanced in developing and deploying supercritical and ultra-supercritical coal plants, as well as moving quickly to design and deploy technologies for integrated (coal) gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plants. In 2018, 62% of the country's energy demand was met by coal, down from 70% in 2010, though absolute consumption had risen by 10%.
Wind and solar generating capacity has been expanding rapidly, much of it with private investment encouraged by government policies, such as CNY 0.54 per kWh feed-in tariff (FIT). In 2019, 26 GWe of new wind capacity and 31 GWe of solar PV was installed.
The grid system run by the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) and China Southern Power Grid Co (CSG) is sophisticated and rapidly growing, utilising ultra high voltage (1000 kV AC and 800 kV DC) transmission. In 2020, SGCC plans to invest CNY 1.2 trillion ($170 billion) on the grid system, of which CNY 500 billion ($72 billion) will be on ultra-high voltage (UHV) transmission.
A new Yunnan-Guangdong line in the south links major hydro and nuclear sources, and a 2 GWe link in the north links Mongolian wind with Shandong. SGCC started pre-project work on transmission links with Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia and Pakistan in 2015. It is also building a major UHV DC project in Brazil and a 4000 MW HVDC line through Pakistan as part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The 13th Five-Year Plan from 2016 included spending $370 billion on smart grids, ultra-high-voltage (UHV) grids and distribution. The plan outlined that by 2020, the country would have 89,000 km of UHV lines installed. As of mid-2019, about 30-35,000 km had been completed.
Among the main listed generators, Huaneng Power produced 394.5 TWh from its domestic plants in 2017, 26% up on 2016. Datang Power produced 198.7 TWh, 15% up on 2016. China Huadian Power produced 512.3 TWh and State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) produced 422.6 TWh, 11% up from 2016. The main nuclear operators are China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) and China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN), with SPIC (via its nuclear power business State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation – SNPTC) a third one.
Electricity generation is only one part of China's rapid development; roads, air transport and a high-speed rail system (powered by electricity) are others. A record 486 km/h rail speed between Beijing and Shanghai was achieved in 2010, and by September 2016, 20,000 km of 200+ km/h track was operational. Also the world's longest bridge – the 42 km Qingdao Haiwan bridge in Shandong province – opened in 2011.
Energy policy and clean air
Nuclear power
Regulation and safety
Reactor technology
Embarking upon Generation III plants
Nuclear growth
First and second-wave nuclear plants: varied beginnings to 2010
Further nuclear plants: operating, under construction and planned
Inland nuclear power plants
Nuclear technology exports
Notes & references
Related Information
Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-
