China's "going to coal" has a long way to go

The Chinese government announced that it "declares war on pollution" and pursues economic growth "going to coal", which has aroused widespread concern at home and abroad. “Decarbonization” is both an energy resource issue and an environmental pollution issue. Its connotation includes two aspects: one is to reduce the use of coal; the other is to reduce the pollution caused by the use of coal.

At present, China has started to reduce the use of coal: the “Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan” issued by the State Council in September 2013 clearly stipulated that by 2017, the ratio of coal to total energy consumption should fall from 70% in 2013 to below 65%. ; Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and other regions are striving to achieve a negative growth in total coal consumption. At the same time, 65% of the coal reduction target in 2017 is obviously only a starting point, and the proportion of coal will continue to decline thereafter.

In order to reduce coal, apart from continuing to eliminate the excess, decentralized and outdated production capacity of the coal industry and the coal industry such as steel, construction materials, and chemical industries, an important issue is to vigorously develop and utilize “non-coal energy”. By analyzing the growth of "non-coal energy" at home and abroad for many years, the main force for the growth of "non-coal energy" in the future will be hydropower, wind power, nuclear power and solar power. It is particularly worth mentioning that China’s wind power installed capacity surpassed the United States in 2010 to reach the top of the world, and wind power has become the third largest power source in China, second only to coal firepower and hydraulic power. It is expected that the cost of wind power generation will be expected in 2020. Achieve the level of match with thermal power. However, how to overcome the problem of “reduction of wind and wind curtailment” and many wind power companies suffer from losses and other issues is imperative.

However, China has a wealth of coal resources. Its reserves are second only to the United States and Russia, ranking third in the world. Of the proven reserves of primary energy resources in China, coal accounted for 94%, oil and natural gas accounted for only 5.4% and 0.6%, respectively, which determined that China’s coal-based energy structure was difficult to change and “reduced” in the primary energy structure. The speed of "coal" cannot be very rapid, and it cannot be very large. For a long time to come we have to face the question of how to "use" coal.

In addition to improving the efficiency of coal utilization and the clean use of coal, in addition to vigorously overcoming extensive and wasteful use of coal, China’s power industry has made rapid progress in the cleanliness and efficiency of coal combustion: 90% of coal-fired units have achieved desulfurization. 100% installed a dust removal device; by the end of 2013, the 1000 megawatt 700 degree Celsius ultra supercritical unit had already been put into production 62 units, ranking first in the world; Shanghai Waigaoqiao No. 3 Power Plant continued to maintain the lowest coal consumption record of thermal power generation in the world for six years. However, at the same time, it is also necessary to see that in the field of clean coal utilization, there is still a large gap between China's technologically advanced countries in the design and manufacture of key components and R&D of high-temperature resistant materials.

In general, on the one hand, China has made tremendous efforts and achieved outstanding results in the “de-alcoholization” including coal reduction, coal saving, and clean coal, which demonstrates China’s sincerity in fulfilling its international obligations in combating climate change. On the other hand, in order to promote “go coalification”, we still need to solve many technical and management problems. In short, China’s “going to coal” still has a long way to go.