China shut down small thermal power plants with the installed
capacity totaling 6.95 million kilowatts in the first half of the
year, completing about 70 percent of the pre-set goal in this
regard in 2007.
That was learned from an ongoing national meeting of the State
Development and Reform Commission held in Guiyang, Guizhou Province, on construction of
big-capacity power plants and closure of smaller ones in south
China.
China has seen a rapid growth of power industry in the recent
years, and by 2006 the country's totaled installed capacity rose to
622 million kw, of which, 75 percent were from coal-fired thermal
power plants which have turned out to be energy consuming and heavy
polluting as well, said sources from the meeting.
The country has set out goals of reducing per-unit gross
domestic product (GDP) energy consumption and discharge of main
pollutants by 20 percent and 10 percent respectively by the year of
2010 according to comparable figures of 2005.
To this end, China decided to close small coal-fired generating
units totaling 50 million kw, and fuel-fired power plants with
capacities totaling between 7 million to 10 million kilowatts
during the 2006-2010 period.
Small thermal power plants with installed capacity below 100,000
kw each totaled 115 million kilowatts, accounting for about 30
percent of installed thermal power capacity. They contributed
nearly 40 percent of the 14 million tons of sulfur dioxide
discharged into the air by the country's power industry last
year.
If the generating units with small capacities are replaced by
those with big capacities, the country could be spared from
discharge of 2.2 million tons of sulfur dioxide each year.
(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2007)
