China’s electric power industry made rapid progression in 2009 under the drive of investment and macro-policy. The investment into the electric power infrastructure topped RMB755.84 billion in 2009, up 19.93% yr-on-yr; and the accumulated generating capacity reached 3650.6 TWh, in particular the annual generating capacity of grid-connected wind power even rose 105.9% yr-on-yr fueled by renewable energy policy.

YoY Growth Rates for Generation Capacity of Power Sources, 2009
 
Source: ResearchInChina

Bolstered by economic recovery, the power consumption in such industries as iron & steel and building materials has increased continuously especially since Jul, 2009. In comparison, non-ferrous metal contributed less to power consumption in 2009, just up 0.42% yr-on-yr, but it has strongly rebounded since the beginning of 2010 and recorded a 51.2% YoY rise in Jan.-Feb. In addition, the power consumption in western provinces and municipalities has grown slowly since Q4 2009, particularly the continuous drought in Southwest China has resulted in the successive decline in hydraulic power for nearly three months in 2010, down 6.6%, 12.9% and 26.9% respectively.

Apart from electric power generation, transmission and three major industries of China’s power sector, and power consumption by industry and region, the report also analyzes the installed capacity, power generation & sales and operation of the five large power generating companies in China, as well as introduces the projects under construction or to be constructed, and future development strategies.

As of the end of 2009, the installed capacity of GD Power Development Co., Ltd had achieved 16.2575 GW, of which thermal power was 12.804 GW, and hydropower 2.9855 GW, wind power 468,000 KW.

Meanwhile, the controllable installed capacity of Huaneng Power International Inc reached 48.55 GW at the end of 2009, up 18.6% yr-on-yr; and thermal power now accounts for around 90% of its total power installed capacity. It will actively push natural gas generating project and participate in the engineering of nuclear power projects in the future through its cooperation with petrochemical companies.

SDIC completed its material asset reorganizations in Nov, 2009, and then the ratio of attributable installed capacity of hydraulic power generating units to the total increased to 36% from 13%, so the power supply structure got much improved, effectively easing SDIC’s cost-control pressure brought by current fluctuations in coal price.

Being one of China’s largest power companies, the operating revenue and profit of Huadian Power International Inc hit RMB36.662 billion and RMB1.643 billion respectively in 2009, which was mainly ascribed to the drop in coal price.

The power generation of Datang International Power Generation Co., Ltd accomplished 141.8685 TWh in 2009, up 11.98% yr-on-yr, which was fueled by the expanding capacity of generating units, rising 5,645MW from a year earlier, of which thermal power units increased 4,660MW, hydropower and wind power capacity respectively 735MW and 250MW.