July 1, 2010

China: A World Powerhouse

By Sonal Patel

Nuclear on the Fast Track

Most westerners are aware of the great pace at which China is building coal-fired plants. What is less well known is that China has put its nuclear power plans on a fast track, kicking off a construction frenzy worth billions of dollars. The latest government blueprints place China’s nuclear power capacity target at 70 GW by 2020—a nearly 50% jump from an earlier goal. That means the nation, whose 11 reactors (Figure 7) currently produce a combined 9 GW at capacity (or about 1.3% of the nation’s total power), must add about 44 new reactors by 2020—or four reactors every year.

7. Nuclear juggernaut. The 2,000-MW Guangdong Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station, built in 1994, was the first commercial nuclear power station on the Chinese mainland. To increase power supply and meet environmental goals, China has fast-tracked nuclear power plant construction, working to increase installed nuclear capacity to 70 GW by 2020, and possibly 200 GW by 2030. Courtesy: CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd.

As of May 2010, 23 reactors were already under construction and another 34 were firmly planned—but these are only the beginning. They are part of China’s 10th economic plan, which calls for 25 new reactors to start operations between 2010 and 2016. Another 18 have been ordained by the more recent 11th economic plan; these should come online between 2014 and 2017. Plans will only get grander: Reports indicate that China could increase nuclear capacity targets to a stunning 86 GW by 2020. And if China sticks to plans announced in April 2010 by the China Nuclear Energy Association, it could source about 200 GW from nuclear power by 2030.

The technology base for future reactors remains officially undefined, though two designs are predominant in construction plans: the CPR-1000, or “improved Chinese Pressure Water Reactor,” a French-derived three-loop unit with 157 fuel assemblies, and Westinghouse’s AP1000. High-temperature gas-cooled reactors and fast reactors also appear to be priorities.

China has also considered and set up solutions for nuclear waste management. It already has a closed–fuel cycle strategy for spent fuel, and it has built a centralized spent fuel storage facility with a capacity of 550 mt, which can be doubled. (See the May 2010 POWER cover story at http://www.powermag.com for a history of the failed U.S. attempts at developing centralized spent fuel storage solutions.) In addition to hosting a pilot reprocessing plant using the PUREX process, the country has also signed an agreement with AREVA to determine if it is feasible to set up a reprocessing plant for used fuel and mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication. This 800 mt/year facility will likely be in Gansu Province, and it will be operated by AREVA from 2025 onward. (See our August 2008 story, “How to Solve the Used Nuclear Fuel Storage Problem” for more details about the PUREX and MOX processes.)

Wind Power Reaches for the Sky While Solar Stands in Its Shadow

China’s installed nameplate wind capacity has skyrocketed over the past two years, bringing capacity installed by the end of 2009 to 25.9 GW. According to the Global Wind Energy Council, last year alone, the country installed nearly 14 GW. The country won’t be slowing down installations anytime soon: Beijing intends to make the most of its wind energy resources, which are so abundant that researchers from Harvard and Beijing Tsinghua University say China could meet all of its electricity demands from wind power through 2030.

Despite serious challenges, such as bottlenecks in the national grid, by the end of 2008, 12 provinces in China each had a wind power capacity of 200 MW—and in Heilongjiang, Jilin, Inner Mongolia, and Hebei, wind power nameplate capacity exceeded 1 GW. Some installations are gargantuan: China has started construction of a 10-GW wind farm in Jiuquan, Gansu Province. Construction of large farms is also planned for Jiangsu, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Hebei.

The growing market demand for wind power generation has greatly encouraged domestic industries for manufacturing wind generators and components. As of June 2010, China had more than 70 complete-set manufacturers, more than 50 turbine blade manufacturers, nearly 20 generator manufacturers, more than 10 converter manufacturers, and nearly 100 turbine tower manufacturers. These developments suggest that China could become the world’s leading wind power equipment manufacturing country by 2015.

At the same time, the country is steaming ahead with offshore developments. In June 2010 it was scheduled to begin operating the 102-MW Shanghai Donghai Bridge offshore wind farm (Figure 8)—not just the country’s first offshore project, but also Asia’s first, and the first outside Europe. With a coastline stretching 18,000 km, China isn’t stopping there: Four more offshore wind projects with an estimated combined capacity of 1 GW are being prepared for bidding.

8. Coastline power. The Shanghai Donghai Bridge Wind Farm, China’s first offshore wind farm, uses 34 Sinovel SL3000 (3-MW) wind turbines. Each SL3000 contains a set of core electrical components from American Superconductor Corp. Courtesy: AMSC

In comparison, solar power in China has a much smaller profile—even though the country dominates the world’s solar panel manufacturing sector with more than 400 photovoltaic companies. At the end of 2008, the solar power capacity attached to the national grid was under 100 MW. A rapid expansion is planned to grow solar capacity to 1,800 MW by 2020, however. One official told attendees at a solar conference in 2009 that the plan could be expanded even more, possibly reaching as much as 10 GW by 2020.