Electricity Generation in the People’s Republic of China

The People’s Republic of China is the world leader in terms of electricity generation (7624 TW ∙ h in 2020), ahead of the United States by almost 2 times and the Russian Federation by 9 times. The dynamic development of China’s energy sector is observed in all types of energy sources. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the total capacity of TPPs has increased by 6 times, NPPs and HPPs—by 5 times. Non-carbon power engineering is actively developing: in 2020, almost 30% of the total electricity generation came from renewable energy sources (RES), including HPPs. Coal-fired TPPs form the basis of electric power engineering in China (their share in electricity generation exceeds 60%). More than half of the coal-fired TPPs are equipped with modern units for ultra-supercritical steam parameters (26%) and supercritical pressure (26.7%) with an efficiency of 40 – 44% and low emissions of harmful substances with flue gases. The article describes the state of China’s power generation and the prospects for its development, associated with a further increase in generating capacity and a simultaneous achievement of a zero balance in terms of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere by 2060. © 2022, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.