The PRC government places consistently strong emphasis on environmental protection and continuously improves its legislation on renewable energy. A number of environmental policies were promulgated with a view to enable economically sustainable development. With China officially becoming a party to the Paris Agreement in 2016 indicating a serious commitment to tackle climate change, the PRC government issued in the same year the "13th Five-year" plans for energy and power development, in which the targets for clean energy developments were specified up to 2020. In general, Chinese companies are confronting new requirements for environmental and social responsibilities. The Group acknowledges that it is incumbent upon, and obligatory for, energy and power companies such as the Group to actively cope with global climate change, and corresponding strategies are formulated while relevant actions are engaged.
Aims and Directions for Development
The Group is committed to establishing itself as a clean low-carbon integrated energy company. In order to contribute to the coping responses to global climate change, the Group’s directions for development for achieving existing goals are as follows:
Enhance the development of clean energy: continue to increase the proportion of clean energy by maintaining our lead in hydropower generation and making further progress in the development of premium wind power and photovoltaic projects, while controlling and slowing down new coal-fired power generation.
Reduce pollution emitted by the existing coal-fired power generating units: to complete the ultra-low emission technical upgrades in order to reduce the pollutants and greenhouse gases emission per unit of power generated; to enhance the efficiency of the power generating units in order to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels per unit of power generated.
Develop technological innovation: to strive for breakthroughs in the area of clean energy and low carbon emission with greater R&D inputs.
Basis of Actions
The actions committed by the Group are based on:
Policy guidance: commitments made by the PRC government upon joining the Paris Agreement on climate change, plan targets as set out in the "13th Five-year" plans for energy and power of the PRC, "Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan", "Action Plan Of the Upgrade and Renovation for Coal-fired Units to Achieve Energy Saving and Emission Reduction (2014-2020)", among other policies.
Regulatory standards: "Environmental Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China", "Atmospheric Pollution Prevention and Control Law of the People’s Republic of China", "Emission Standard of Air Pollutants for Coal-fired Power Plants" and other environmental regulatory standards issued by the central and local governments.
Strategic Support
The Group accelerates the implementation of its transformational strategies and strives for the developments in clean energy, general development, smart technology and international expansion. In particular, developments in clean energy were ramped up in a bid to reduce reliance on traditional energies and transform from carbon-heavy into low-carbon generation, which is a major component in our transformational development strategy. The established strategy of the Group strongly supports various initiatives coping with climate change.
Air pollution
In strict compliance with the "Emission standard of air pollutants for coal-fired power plants", "Ambient air quality standards" and other pertinent laws and regulations as well as in response to the requirements under "Action Plan Of the Upgrade And Renovation for Coal-Fired Units to Achieve Energy Saving and Emission Reduction (2014–2020)", the Group effectively controlled the emission of airborne pollutants by installing dedusting, desulphurization and denitration facilities and procuring coals with less pollutant contents.
During 2016, the Group embarked upon the researches on the processes of replacing liquefied anhydrous ammonia with urea as denitration agents, with a view to further mitigating risks in work safety and environmental hazards. In particular, pre-upgrade initial works have been initiated in Dabieshan Power Plant, Wuhu Power Plant and Fuxi Power Plant.
During 2016, as part of the ultra-low emission upgrade, the DC-powered dedusting device was installed to further reduce emission of dusts, and GGH tubes were installed to eliminate the visual pollution from white plume.
Exhausts
As part of the environmental upgrade strategy, the Group embarked upon the third environmentally-friendly upgrade with an aim for ultra-low emission. During 2016, 13 power generating units completed their ultra-low emission upgrades. In particular, the generating unit no. 1 of CP Shentou Power Plant completed its ultra-low emission upgrade and was accepted and the electricity sales was awarded for ultra-low emission by Shanxi Province after inspection for its environmental performance. The generating units no. 5 and no. 6 of Pingwei Power Plant III obtained a green electricity tariff of RMB27/MWh for their performance in desulphurization, denitration and dedusting. Fuxi Power Plant received a 50% discount on the flue gas and dust discharge fee in the first quarter of 2016, indicating recognition for our environmental upgrades.
Discharge of sulphur dioxides, nitrogen oxides, and flue gas and dusts by the Group reduced significantly due to our ultra-low emission upgrades, with the total discharge decreased by 2,281 tonnes, 1,293 tonnes and 679 tonnes, respectively.
The Group also reduces the discharge of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases through the development of clean energy to cope with climate change in a proactive manner. In 2016, the Group’s clean energy power generation amounted to 18,798,569MWh, representing a reduction in carbon dioxide discharge by 15,076,452 tons.
