Bloomberg: China may need 1,000 nuclear reactors in the future
Source: Seen on Wall Street Date: 2014-11-25
To combat climate change and air pollution, China may need 1,000 nuclear reactors, 500,000 wind turbines or 50,000 solar farms.
This month, Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama signed a reduction agreement. China promises that its carbon emissions will reach a peak around 2030 and will increase the proportion of non-fossil energy to 20% in the same year.
According to Bloomberg estimates, such a commitment would require China's nuclear energy output to reach 67 times expected at the end of 2014, 30 times solar output, and 9 times wind output. That's nine times the output of all non-fossil energy in the United States today. This makes some market players optimistic about the prospects of China's nuclear, solar and wind energy concept companies in the future.
Liang Zhipeng, deputy director of the Department of New and Renewable Energy of the National Energy Administration of China, said in Wuxi this month that it is urgent to feel that air pollution has affected everyone. Problems such as environmental pollution and insufficient energy resources have actually forced China to undergo an energy transition and develop clean energy.
As of last year, China is already the world's largest producer of wind and solar power, but the rise of the middle class and the expansion of urbanization are still much faster than the production of new energy. Pollution problem.
However, in recent years, the opposition to the development of nuclear power has been clamoring. Some countries, such as Germany, are firmly committed to the pace of nuclearization. After the Fukushima nuclear power plant leakage accident in 2011, the opposition to the development of nuclear power reached its peak. These two years can be regarded as the "harsh winter" of the nuclear power industry.
However, the International Energy Agency (IEA) is still supporting nuclear power. The IEA recently announced in its annual Global Energy Outlook report that nuclear power has an indispensable role in climate change and meeting emission reduction targets. The IEA reports that nuclear power is one of the few options that can be a significant alternative to fossil fuel power generation and is effective and reliable. "Countries around the world need to act now and find a safe way to achieve this."
The energy development strategic action plan for 2014-2020 issued by the General Office of the State Council on November 19 proposed the safe development of nuclear power, and it was clear that the installed capacity of nuclear power in 2020 would still be 58 million kilowatts. The market had previously expected that the target would be reduced by 5 million kilowatts, indicating that the central high-level government is supporting the development of nuclear power.
According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance data, if China is to succeed in signing emission reduction targets with the United States, China ’s annual increase in clean energy output must reach the entire Spanish energy output. But China only reached this level in 2013 in the past.
According to IEA data, China's electricity demand will increase by 46% in 2020 and double in 2030. China currently relies on coal for two-thirds of its energy resources, which is only lower than that of South Africa in the G20 countries, leaving huge room for new energy conversion.
IE According to the IEA, China will spend US $ 4.6 trillion to upgrade the energy industry by 2040, of which nuclear energy and other renewable energy sources will receive US $ 1.77 trillion of new investment.
Bloomberg analysis believes that changes in China's energy policy will benefit nuclear reactor manufacturers including General Electric and Areva SA; wind power equipment manufacturers such as Goldwind Technology (002202) and Vestas Wind Power ( Vestas Wind Systems); meanwhile, it is good for solar panel manufacturers such as Yingli Green Energy Holding and Trina Solar.