Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
his is a disturbing development for Chinese irms, because many of their
exports are energy intensive. In 2008, CO
2
emissions associated with the
production of goods for export accounted for approximately 3.1 gigatons of
China's aggregate CO
2
emissions of 6.5 gigatons.
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Any border taxes applied
to Chinese exports could have a signiicant economic impact on industrial
proitability. Consequently, it is in the interests of the CPC to ensure that
China's electricity infrastructure is lexible enough to mitigate the impact of
international disincentives of this type.
he economic security justiication for coal-ired power is also crumbling,
and this will alter market dynamics. Historically, the latent economic value
of China's coal reserves has underpinned a coal-dominated electricity gener-
ation sector. However, given that the consumption of coal-ired electricity is
expected to double in China by 2035, coal will only be an abundant domestic
resource for a few more decades.
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Meanwhile, wind power, solar PV, and
nuclear power are increasingly seen in political circles as technologies that
will enhance economic security.
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6.5.3 Technological
→
Political
Grid coverage and resiliency in China is a concern. In response to unprec-
edented growth in demand for electricity, the government has initiated
numerous grid expansion projects to connect new power sources and inter-
connectivity projects between China's regional power grids to improve grid
resilience. Between 2005 and 2009, grid investment rose 150% from RMB153
billion (approx. US$25 billion) to RMB385 billion (approx. US$63 billion).
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Nevertheless, as Figure 6.8 (next page) indicates, since 1978 investment
in grid infrastructure has lagged behind investment in generation capacity
expansion.
64
Consequently, the power grid is no longer capable of efectively
supporting installed capacity. To illustrate, in 2010 it has been purported
that only 70% of installed wind power capacity was actually connected to
the grid.
65
Of greater consternation, this also suggests that requisite funding
for R&D to enhance smart grid technology and improve network resilience
to incorporate higher contributions from renewable sources has been insuf-
icient to keep pace with renewable energy supply expansion.
Although insuicient infrastructure partly explains why 30% of total
installed wind power capacity was not connected to the grid in 2010, another
impediment is the inherent rigidity of China's electricity mix. Coal-ired
power dominates China's electricity mix. he current system lacks suicient
peak-load capacity to dampen power luctuations from stochastic renewable
energy technologies, such as wind power. Consequently, although China's
