Abstract
Since the government implemented the supply-side structural reform, the growth of electricity consumption in energy-intensive manufacturing industries has been contained in an all-round way, which poses greater challenges to overcapacity in the power sector. It is still a mystery that how to restrain the electricity consumption of energy-intensive manufacturing industry affects the installed capacity of power generation. Thereupon, this paper empirically studies the relationship between electricity consumption of the six energy-intensive manufacturing subsectors and provincial power generation capacity. The empirical results with line loss rate as instrumental variables indicate that the electricity consumption of the six energy-intensive manufacturing subsectors will increase or decrease the installed capacity of power generation by a one-to-one elastic coefficient. In terms of manufacturing subsectors, the power sector’s own electricity consumption has the highest capacity enhancement effect, followed by non-metallic minerals and chemical raw materials manufacturing subsectors. The resolution of overcapacity for power generation is fundamentally to reduce the electricity consumption intensity of the six high-energy-consuming manufacturing subsectors.
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Notes
The six energy-intensive manufacturing industries designated in the Statistical Communique of The People’s Republic of China on the 2010 National Economic and Social Development are Manufacture of Raw Chemical Materials and Chemical Products (raw chemical), Manufacture of Non-metallic Mineral Products (non-metallic mineral), Smelting and Pressing of Ferrous Metals (ferrous metals), Smelting and Pressing of Non-ferrous Metals (SPNM), Processing of Petroleum, Coking, Processing of Nuclear Fuel (Petroleum), and Production and Supply of Electricity and Heat (PSEH).
As a consequence of this situation, the average annual operating hours of power plants used to reflect capacity utilization have continued to decline in recent years. According to the China Electricity Council, the average annual operating hours (AAOH) of 6000 KW and above power plants fell to 3862 h in 2018, while the AAOH of thermal power plants was 4361 h, less than the baseline of 5000 h.
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Wang, Y., Zhang, Q. How does electricity consumption of energy-intensive manufacturing affect the installed capacity of power generation? Empirical evidence under the background of China’s supply-side structural reform. Energy Efficiency 15, 44 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-022-10043-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-022-10043-y