In 2010, China's newly installed capacity of 91.27 million kW installed capacity reached 960 million kilowatts

The National Energy Administration held the conference for the fourth quarter energy economy situation. Wang Siqiang, deputy director of the General Department of the National Energy Administration, said at the meeting that the power supply capacity will continue to increase in 2010, and demand growth will gradually decline. In 2010, 90.27 million kilowatts of new power generation capacity was installed nationwide. As of the end of 2010, the country’s total installed power generation capacity reached 960 million kilowatts.

Wang Siqiang said that in 2010, the country's newly installed power generation capacity was 91.27 million kilowatts, of which hydropower was 16.61 million kilowatts, thermal power was 58.72 million kilowatts, nuclear power was 1.74 million kilowatts, and wind power was 13.99 million kilowatts. As of the end of 2010, the country’s total installed capacity of power generation reached 960 million kilowatts, including 210 million kilowatts of hydropower, 700 million kilowatts of thermal power, 10.8 million kilowatts of nuclear power, and 31.07 million kilowatts of wind power. The cumulative power generation for the year amounted to 4.14 trillion kWh, an increase of 13.3% over the previous year. The cumulative average utilization hours of power generation equipment in the country reached 4,660 hours, an increase of 114 hours compared to the previous year. It was the first time since the utilization hours of power generation equipment continued to drop since 2005. Among them, 3,429 hours of hydropower, an increase of 101 hours over the previous year; 5031 hours of thermal power, an increase of 166 hours; 7924 hours of nuclear power, an increase of 208 hours; wind power 2097 hours, an increase of 20 hours.

In 2010, the total electricity consumption of the entire society reached 4.19 trillion kWh, an increase of 14.6% over the previous year. Affected by the increase in the previous year's base number and energy-saving emission reduction efforts, the growth rate was high and low before falling back quarter by quarter. In the first quarter, driven by the recovery of the macro economy, electricity consumption continued the rapid growth momentum since the fourth quarter of 2009. Industry, especially heavy industry, is still the main driving force for the rapid growth of electricity consumption in the entire society. In the second quarter, the state intensified its macro-control efforts, and the growth in electricity consumption began to stabilize. In the third quarter, with the further manifestation of the effects of macro-control measures, electricity consumption in the four major industries, including steel, chemicals, building materials, and non-ferrous metals, began to drop, driving the proportion of electricity consumption in the secondary industry to decline in the total electricity consumption in the society.

Wang Siqiang said that during the summer peak season, the cooling load in the country has rapidly risen, and the growth rate of electricity consumption in the tertiary industry and residents has been rapid, becoming the main driving force for growth in electricity consumption in the entire society. In the fourth quarter, energy-saving and emission-reduction efforts across the country have increased, and the growth rate of heavy industry electricity consumption has rapidly declined. In the four major electricity-consuming industries in November, the cumulative electricity consumption was 108.6 billion kwh, which was a year-on-year decrease of 1.8%. The growth rate for the first time in a year turned negative, which was 5.7 percentage points lower than the growth rate of electricity consumption in the whole society and was at a relatively low level for many years.

During peak winter, electricity supply in some central and southwestern provinces and cities is tight. In December, the “Eleventh Five-Year” energy saving and emission reduction missions in various regions were basically completed, and the coal and electricity demand that had been suppressed in the previous period were released to some extent; strong cold weather covered most parts of the country, heating load increased sharply, and coal stocks continued to decline. At the same time, coal prices are relatively high, thermal power companies in the central and western regions have suffered more losses, and the enthusiasm for depositing coal in power plants has declined. On December 31, the days available for coal inventories of major power generation companies fell to 15 days, far below the level of 21 days at the end of October. Due to the rapid decline in coal deposits in power plants, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Chongqing and Shaanxi provinces have adopted orderly power or power cuts.