Apr. 13, 2011 (Xinhua News Agency) -- Top stories of the day: China power and coal -- Apr. 14
BEIJING, Apr. 14 (Xinhua) ?
1. China is expected to soon issue stricter emission standards for thermal power plants, which will significantly expand domestic desulphurization and denitrification market.
Now the draft for the standards is being revised according to the second round of opinion solicitation and official version may be released in the near term as May is usually the overhaul period for power plants.
Industry insiders estimate that according to the standards drafted for soliciting the second round of opinions, domestic thermal power plants, which have a total of about 707 million KW power generating units in operation, will have to renovate 94 percent of their generating units for dust cleaning, 80 percent for desulphurization and 90 percent for denitrification, and the renovation cost will hit as high as 200 billion-250 billion yuan.
2. Coal consumption of China's electric power industry is expected to top 1.4 million tonnes of standard coal in 2015, a jump of over 50 percent over 2010, said Wu Dawei, chief economic engineer with China Huaneng Group.
Wu said at the Ninth Annual Coaltrans China that the country's power sector will speed up structural adjustments during the 2011-15 period and further promote development and utilization of clean energy including hydropower, wind power, nuclear power and solar power.
By 2015, non-fossil energy is expected to account for about 33 percent in China's installed power capacity, up nearly 9 percentage points over 2005, he added.
3. Major power plants along Yangtze River in east China have generally received a 10 percent price rise for the 5500-kilocalorie power coal, according to China Coal (TSXV:CKO) Resource.
China's coal market has displayed a rising trend given combined effects from maintenance of Datong-Qinhuangdao Railway, the major railway line for coal transport, falling coal stocks at Qinghuangdao port, the largest coal transiting and trading center in north China, and coalmine mergers in Hebei and Shaanxi provinces.
Industry insiders point out that east China's coal price rise is obvious though it's the traditional off season for coal consumption.
4. China Coal Energy Co. (OOTC:CCOZY) (OOTC:CCOZF) , (1898.HK; 601898.SH), the second largest coal producer in China, said Wednesday that its coal output reached 8.31 million tonnes in March, representing an on-year growth of 1.7 percent.
According to the statement, its coal sales increased 17 percent on year to 12.44 million tonnes in March.
Total coal output stood at 25.9 million tonnes in January-March of 2011, up 4.9 percent over a year earlier, and total coal sales up 24 percent to 32.75 million tonnes during the same period.
(Edited by Shi Chunjiao, shichunjiao@xinhua.org)