The State Power Corp., the nation's largest power supplier, has successfully reached its target of shutting down a number of small thermal power generators this year, following the closure of the Yushuchuan Power Plant in northeast China's Jilin Province Monday.
The plant, with an installed capacity of 99,000 kilowatts, is the largest of its kind to have been shut down so far.
The State Power Corp., which holds the lion's share of the nation's power plants, has closed down small thermal power plants with a total generating capacity of 3.11 million kilowatts this year.
Since 1997, the company has terminated small thermal power plants with a total installed capacity of 7.78 million kilowatts, accounting for 80 percent of the national total.
Although small thermal power plants, which are classified as generating units with an installed capacity under 50,000 kilowatts, played an important role in helping ease the nation's power shortage during the 1980s, the government sentenced them to death three years ago because of high production costs and pollution.
With the closure of small thermal power plants, the country hopes to see a better environmental situation arise, experts said.
Statistics from the State Power Corp. indicate that the company has saved 30 million tons of coal and reduced emissions of millions of tons of carbon dioxide over the past three years.
Though more than 70 percent of China's electric power currently comes from thermal power plants, China has vowed to continue to close more plants down in the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05) period to promote the restructuring of its power industry.
According to Wang Binghua, director of the company's Department of Generation and Transmission, the State Power Corp. is ready to shut down small power plants with installed capacities of 1.4 million kilowatts next year, and will have closed all 14 million kilowatts plants by 2003.
Meanwhile, China plans to use hydropower to help satisfy the country's increasing power consumption.
The country hopes to double its installed hydropower capacity in the next 15 years, from 75 million kilowatts in 2000 to 150 million kilowatts by 2015.
Power projects with a combined installed capacity of 29.2 million kilowatts will be put into play in western China in the coming five years, accounting for 37.4 percent of the country's total new power projects.
(China Daily 11/26/2000)
