| Chapter III. Natural Resources |
Throughout 50 years of development in the electric power industry, China reached 4th in the world in generated electricity and power generating capacity in 1990. The production of electricity has a continuing increase in the east and southeastern China. The production in Guangdong is especially high, with a 289.09 hundred million kilowatt-hours in 2000. The electricity consumption is increasing consistently annually. Guangdong has also the highest consumption among all the provinces, along with Jiangsu, Shandong, and Liaoning; Guangdong reached 108600 million kilowatt-hours.
Production of electricity Fig[3.15]
Electricity consumption Fig[3.16]
Hydroelectric power
In 2000, the production of hydroelectric power increased in the majority of the provinces in China, except Gansu and a few in the east. Sichuan produced 31.5 billion kilowatt-hours, the highest among the provinces. Most hydroelectric power is generated in the central and southern part of China along Yangtze River; in addition, the production generally has an increasing trend.
Production of hydro-electricity Fig[3.17]
Total energy consumption
Energy consumption in eastern China is much higher than that of the western and middle part. In Sichuan, Shanxi, Hunan, Shaanxi, Guizhou, and Jilin, there is a decrease in energy consumption. In Chongqing, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangsu, Hebei, and Shanghai, there is a consistent increase in energy consumption over the years. Liaoning, Shandong, and Hebei had the highest energy consumption in China, which exceeded 9000 standard coal tons in 1999. In 2000, the total energy consumption reached 12800 million tons.
Total energy consumption Fig[3.18]
Total consumption of energy and its composition Table[3.2]
Overall energy balance sheet Table[3.3]