China Energy Big Data Report (2022) - Power Industry Development

Electric power production

1. The national electricity generation increased by 9.7% year-on-year, and the full-caliber non-fossil energy generation increased by 12.0% year-on-year

In 2021, the national power production and supply capacity will be further improved, supply and demand will be generally balanced, and the structure will be further optimized. According to the Statistical communique on National Economic and Social Development released by the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2021, China's power generation will reach 8,534.25 billion KWH, up 9.7 percent year on year and 6 percentage points higher than the previous year. Among them, the thermal power generation was 5.805.87 billion KWH, up 8.9% year on year; Hydropower generation was 1.339 billion KWH, down 1.2% year on year. Nuclear power generated 407.52 billion KWH, up 11.3 percent year on year. According to the statistics of the full caliber of the China Electricity Union, wind power and solar power generation were 655.6 billion KWH and 327 billion KWH, respectively, an increase of 40.5% and 25.2%. Biomass power generation was 163.7 billion KWH, up 23.6% year on year.

The power generation structure has been continuously optimized. In 2021, non-fossil energy power generation will reach 2.9 trillion KWH, up 12.0 percent year on year. It accounted for 34.6% of the total power generation of the whole caliber, an increase of 0.7 percentage points. The contribution of wind and solar power generation to the country's electricity supply continues to increase. Full-caliber coal power generation was 5.03 trillion KWH, up 8.6% year-on-year, accounting for 60.0% of the total power generation, down 0.7 percentage points year-on-year.

2. China's total installed power capacity reached 2.4 billion kilowatts, up 7.9% year-on-year

By the end of 2021, China's newly installed power generation capacity will be 176.29 million kW, down 7.9 percent year on year. China's installed power generation capacity was about 2.38 billion kilowatts, an increase of 7.9%, or a contraction of 1.7 percentage points.

In the past decade, China's installed power generation capacity has continued to grow, and the total scale of new power generation capacity has exceeded 100 million kilowatts for nine consecutive years. The growth rate of total installed capacity showed a fluctuating trend, declining continuously from 2017 to 2019, especially in 2018 and 2019, affected by factors such as changes in power supply and demand, the installed capacity of new hydropower, nuclear power and solar power generation was almost halved, resulting in a continuous decline in the scale of new installed capacity in two years. In 2020, driven by the rapid growth of hydropower, wind power and solar power installed capacity, the new installed capacity has increased significantly, driving the annual installed capacity growth rate to rebound sharply. In 2021, the new installed capacity of thermal power and wind power decreased by 18% and 34%, and the overall new scale decreased by 7.9% year-on-year.

3. The proportion of new non-fossil energy power generation capacity was nearly 80%, and the total installed capacity of non-fossil energy exceeded that of coal power for the first time

In 2021, the installed capacity of thermal power will increase by 46.28 million kilowatts, grid-connected hydropower and wind power will reach 23.49 million kilowatts and 47.57 million kilowatts respectively, solar power will reach 54.93 million kilowatts, nuclear power will reach 3.4 million kilowatts and biomass power will reach 8.08 million kilowatts. The installed capacity of non-fossil energy power generation increased by 138.09 million kW, accounting for 78.3% of the total installed capacity of new power generation, an increase of 5.2 percentage points year-on-year.

By the end of 2021, the installed capacity of full-caliber thermal power in the country was 1.30 billion kilowatts, up 4.1% year-on-year, of which coal power was 1.11 billion kilowatts, up 2.8% year-on-year, accounting for 46.7% of the total installed power generation capacity, down 2.3 percentage points year-on-year. In 2021, the installed capacity of full-caliber non-fossil energy reached 1.12 billion kilowatts, an increase of 13.4%, accounting for 47% of the total installed power generation capacity, surpassing the installed capacity of coal power for the first time. The installed capacity of hydropower, wind power and solar power exceeded 300 million kilowatts. Among them, the installed capacity of hydropower is 390 million kW (conventional hydropower is 350 million kW, pumped storage is 36.39 million kW); Wind power 330 million kilowatts (onshore 300 million kilowatts, offshore 26.39 million kilowatts); Installed solar power capacity of 310 million kilowatts (centralized 200 million kilowatts, distributed 110 million kilowatts, solar thermal 570,000 kilowatts). The installed capacity of wind power connected to the grid has ranked first in the world for 12 consecutive years, the installed capacity of solar power connected to the grid has ranked first in the world for seven consecutive years, and the installed capacity of offshore wind power has ranked first in the world. Nuclear power 53.26 million kilowatts. Biomass power generation was 37.98 million kilowatts.