On 7th November 2016, the National Energy Administration (NEA) held a press conference elaborating the China’s 13th five-year plan on the development of energy industry. The 13th five-year is a challenge-opportunity for the energy industry of China.
The government set up 5 main directions about the future development of the industry:
- Intelligentizing of power system
- Sufficient supply
- Internationalization of the industry
- Reducing pollution
- Marketization of the industry
The NEA announced that by 2020, the total installed capacity of the electricity will be reached 2,000 GWe with 5.5% of growth every year for a sufficient supply.
As for nuclear energy, it will comprise 3% of the total installed capacity, which will be 58 million kilowatts of nuclear electricity in 2020. This number remains the same as it was mentioned the first time in 2015. Unlike the target of wind power which was raised from 20 GWe to 21 GWe, there has not been a new nuclear project being approved by the government recently. The only word that NEA used to describe the development of the nuclear energy is safety. This could be an indication that the central government is becoming more conservative on nuclear energy.
The AP1000 at Sanmen Nuclear Power Plant and Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant, Hualong One at Fuqing Nuclear Power Plant and Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Plant will be very important project to be constructed by 2020. Besides, it is also important to commence the construction of CAP1400 demonstration reactors in the near future.
As for the different type of reactors, the construction of EPR in Taishan Nuclear Power Plant and CANDU in Qinshan Phase III were not mentioned specifically by NEA, which means there may not be more EPR or CANDU reactor to be built in China. As for China’s self-designed technology, it is strongly believed that Hualong One and CAP1400 will be the focus in the future. As for the new technology like HTR, the government might think it is still a little bit early to have a specific plan on it.
NEA maintain their attitude towards the inland nuclear site. However, the spokesman clarified that more work needed to be done “to deeply study the feasibility of an inland nuclear project”. This indicates the strong possibility of China’s first inland nuclear power plant will be constructed during the next five year plan.
Having evaluated the report from NEA, I personally believe that China is still paying high attention on the nuclear industry development. Although there is no new approved nuclear sites in China, China is still the largest nuclear new build market and it will lead the development of the global nuclear industry in the next few years.
What do you think?
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