Coal safety problems behind thermal power projects

At the end of 2011, from Chongqing, Tong Xiaoping, the vice mayor of Chongqing, took part in the foundation stone laying ceremony of two large-scale new coal-fired power projects on the same day. According to the person in charge of the Chongqing Electric Energy Group's Ministry of Power, this is an image of Chongqing's rainy days and extraordinary acceleration of the construction of a 10 million kilowatt-hour power generation project.

Increased power gap

After 12 years of development, Chongqing has established the basic framework of a national central city. In recent years, it has adhered to the overall strategy of urbanization, industrialization, and integrated development of urban and rural areas. The growth rate of GDP in the past three years is above 15%, ranking first in the country. First, the growth rate of single indexes such as the introduction of foreign investment, import and export trade, industrial sales value, and taxation also ranks among the top in the country. It is expected that in the next 10 years, Chongqing’s economy will continue to maintain its momentum of rapid development.

However, Chongqing’s economic development has a strong energy dependence. Chongqing is the only net energy input region in the west. With the extraordinary development of the economy, the problem of incompatibility between Chongqing's energy supply base and future economic development will become increasingly prominent. In the past 20 years, the average elasticity coefficient of energy consumption in Chongqing is 0.66. If there is no major change in the energy consumption structure, the total annual energy consumption in Chongqing will increase by 50% over the current period, based on an average annual GDP growth of 10%. The energy gap will be growing.

Chongqing is in short supply of energy, especially in power shortages. At present, the installed capacity of Chongqing's electric power is only 11.5 million kilowatts, and it is expected that the maximum electricity load in 2015 will reach 20.6 million kilowatts. Even if all the existing, under construction, approved power projects, and the agreed external power input are all added up, the reliable power supply of Chongqing Power Grid will not be enough to make up for the shortfall.

Plan ahead for the extraordinary development of electricity

The Chongqing Municipal Government believes that it is not a reliable guarantee to strengthen the daily power regulation and increase the purchased electricity. Chongqing must take a long-term perspective and build a power guarantee. The Chongqing Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government decided to build a “million kilowatts” power generation project during the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” period and build 10 million kilowatts of power projects, including 7 million kilowatts of thermal power and 3 million kilowatts of hydropower.

In addition to the construction of Hechuan Power Plant Phase II and Shizhu Power Plant, Chongqing has four large-scale power projects that have been started in late 2011.

On November 27, 2011, the foundation stone of Fengjie Thermal Power Plant was laid. This large-scale thermal power project is controlled by Huadian Power International Co., Ltd. and Chongqing Energy Group is a shareholder. It is the first power project developed by Huadian Group in Chongqing.

On December 23, Huaneng Group's Liangjiang Gas Turbine Project commenced construction at the Shuidu Industrial Park in Chongqing's Liangjiang New District. The project plans to have a total installed capacity of 3 million kilowatts, and in 2013 it will build a first-phase project of 2 million kilowatts.

On December 28, the foundation for the expansion project of Anshen Power Plant was laid. This project uses 2 × 660,000 kw domestically produced supercritical coal-fired generating units. It is estimated that the dynamic investment will be 5 billion yuan, and the annual power generation will be 6.6 billion kWh. The project is scheduled to be completed and put into production in 2014. This project is located in the Songzao mining area, the largest electric coal production base in Chongqing. It is a typical Hangkou power plant with the advantages of low fuel transportation costs, guaranteed supply, and strong anti-risk capability.

The Jilang County Erlang Power Plant project located near Chongqing also laid the foundation on December 28. The construction of this project is planned to be signed in August 2005 in the two provinces (or municipalities directly under the central government) to sign the "Framework Agreement on the Implementation of Electricity Delivery". The agreement proposes that the two provinces (or municipalities directly under the Central Government) will jointly build the Erlang Power Plant. The power generated will be sent to Chongqing Power Grid in a point-to-network manner and all will be delivered to Chongqing. The project has obtained pre-work "roads" for 4 × 660,000 kW ultra-supercritical units.

On November 16, 2011, Chongqing Energy Group and China Resources Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement and plans to invest in the development of coal-fired power projects in Bijie, Guizhou Province with a total investment of 100 billion yuan. It plans to build an annual capacity of 20 million tons of coal and 10 x 660,000 kilowatts. Thermal Power. The electricity generated will be sent to Chongqing via point-to-network through UHV lines. The chairman of Chongqing Energy Group Pu Hengrong disclosed recently that these two groups will negotiate and formally establish the company around the Spring Festival in 2012 to advance the agreements already reached.

In the history of Chongqing, such intensive construction of thermal power projects was unprecedented. These thermal power projects all require completion of production during the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" period to meet the city's electricity demand in 2015.