Lably
Skip to content

Electricity sector in China

  • 9 min read
  • 7 chapters
​北京南菜园公交总站。10路电动公交车品牌为珠海银隆，充电桩为龙瑞三优。
Wwbread · CC BY-SA 4.0

Related on Lably

Through China, Kilowatt-hour and Renewable energy

Lab · Class 7–12Circuits & Electric Power

Most of the electricity in China comes from coal power, which accounted for 62% of electricity generation in 2021 and is a big part of greenhouse gas emissions by China. Power generated from renewable energy has also been continuously increasing in the country. The national electricity generation from renewable energy reached 594.7 TWh in Q1 2023, an increase of 11.4% year-on-year, including 342.2 TWh of wind and solar power, up 27.8% year-on-year.

In 2023, China's total installed electric generation capacity was 2.92 TW, of which 1.26 TW was renewable, including 376 GW from wind power and 425 GW from solar power. As of 2023, the total power generation capacity for renewable energy sources in China is at 53.9%. The rest was mostly coal capacity, with 1040 GW in 2019. Nuclear also plays an increasing role in the national electricity sector. As of February 2023, China has 55 nuclear plants with 57 GW of power in operation, 22 under construction with 24 GW and more than 70 planned with 88 GW. About 5% of electricity in the country comes from nuclear energy.

China has two wide area synchronous grids, the State Grid and the China Southern Power Grid. The northern power grids were synchronized in 2005. Since 2011 all Chinese provinces are interconnected. The two grids are joined by HVDC back-to-back connections and point-to-point links.

China has abundant energy reserves with the world's fourth-largest coal reserves and massive hydroelectric resources. There is however a geographical mismatch between the location of the coal fields in the northeast (Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning) and north (Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan), hydropower in the south-west (Sichuan, Yunnan, and Tibet), and the growing industrial load centers of the east (Shanghai-Zhejiang) and south (Guangdong, Fujian).

History

In April 1996, an Electric Power Law was implemented, a major event in China's electric power industry. The law set out to promote the development of the electric power industry, to protect the legal rights of investors, managers, and consumers, and to regulate the generation, distribution, and consumption.

Before 1994, electricity supply was managed by electric power bureaus of the provincial governments. Now utilities are managed by corporations outside of the government administration structure.

To end the State Power Corporation's (SPC) monopoly of the power industry, China's State Council dismantled the corporation in December 2002 and set up 11 smaller companies. SPC had owned 46% of the country's electrical generation assets and 90% of the electrical supply assets. The smaller companies include two electric power grid operators, five electric power generation companies, and four relevant business companies. Each of the five electric power generation companies owns less than 20% (32 GW of electricity generation capacity) of China's market share for electric power generation. Ongoing reforms aim to separate power plants from power-supply networks, privatize a significant amount of state-owned property, encourage competition, and revamp pricing mechanisms.

In recent history, China's power industry is characterized by fast growth and an enormous installed base. In 2014, it had the largest installed electricity generation capacity in the world with 1505 GW and generated 5583 TWh China also has the largest thermal power capacity, the largest hydropower capacity, the largest wind power capacity and the largest solar capacity in the world. Despite an expected rapid increase in installed capacity scheduled in 2014 for both wind and solar, and an expected increase to 60 GW in nuclear by 2020, coal will still account for between 65% and 75% of capacity in 2020.

In Spring 2011, according to The New York Times, shortages of electricity existed, and power outages should be anticipated. The government-regulated price of electricity had not matched rising prices for coal.

In 2020, Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping announced that China aims to go carbon-neutral by 2060 in accordance with the Paris climate accord.

In 2024, China's National Energy Administration ceased publishing data on power utilization by each generating source, impeding analysis of grid constraints.

Sign in to keep reading

6 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

More in Earth science

Climate changeHuman-caused changes to climate on EarthKöppen climate classificationClimate classification systemIndian subcontinentPhysiographical region in South AsiaLimestoneType of sedimentary rockTropical cycloneRapidly rotating storm systemPleistoceneFirst epoch of the Quaternary Period