The Impacts of Market Segmentation on Thermal Power Generation Efficiency

China’s power industry is in a critical transformation period. The new round of power system reform in 2015 will have a profound impact on China’s power industry. Therefore, it’s necessary to analyze the influencing factors of thermal power generation efficiency. Based on the thermal power generation industry related data in China’s 30 provinces from 2005 to 2017, this paper studies the impacts of market segmentation on thermal power generation efficiency in China. And the empirical result shows that the market segmentation exhibit significant negative effects on the thermal power generation efficiency, that is, the thermal power generation efficiency significantly decrease 1.6799 for each unit increase of market segmentation index of thermal power industry. Besides, by decomposing the dynamic thermal power efficiency index, we find that the “innovation effect” is the primary channel for the market segmentation to make effects on the thermal power generation efficiency. Furthermore, our findings are still robust after considering endogenous problems and eliminating the relevant data. Finally, research conclusions of our study paper provide empirical supports for the efficient development of China’s power market.

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Total Factor Energy Efficiency of China’s Thermal Power Industry

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su14010504 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 504

Author(s):

Ying Feng ◽

Ching-Cheng Lu ◽

I-Fang Lin ◽

An-Chi Yang ◽

Po-Chun Lin

Keyword(s):

Power Generation ◽

Energy Efficiency ◽

Regional Differences ◽

Power Efficiency ◽

Alternative Energy ◽

Thermal Power ◽

Power Industry ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Thermal Power Generation ◽

The Government

Coal-based thermal power generation has long been the main source of power generation in the mainland of China. The efficiency of power generation is an important factor that determines the energy conservation and emission reduction as well as the sustainable development of the power industry in China. By comparing the regional differences of 30 provinces in the mainland from 2013 to 2017, this study uses the Super-DDF model and the TFEE to comprehensively evaluate the energy efficiency of thermal power generation. Empirical results: Overall efficiency: eastern efficiency (1.181) is the highest, followed by western (0.956), central (0.951) and northeastern (0.926). Total factor energy efficiency: eastern efficiency (0.923) is the highest, followed by western (0.754), central (0.742) and northeastern (0.710). The government and power industry managers should fully consider the regional differences in the field of thermal power generation when formulating policies so as to improve the power efficiency and promote the green development of power industry in China. Based on the analysis results, although the coal-fired power industry is more mature than other alternative energy industries, the expansion of thermal power generation cannot be considered if CO2 emissions are to be reduced. Additionally, the market share and competitiveness of the local power industry can be increased based on the different conditions of the resource endowments of each region.

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Energy efficiency in China: optimization and comparison between hydropower and thermal power

Energy Sustainability and Society ◽

10.1186/s13705-021-00311-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Ruo-Mei Wang ◽

Ze Tian ◽

Fang-rong Ren

Keyword(s):

Power Generation ◽

Eastern China ◽

Thermal Power ◽

Power Industry ◽

Central China ◽

Western China ◽

Hydropower Generation ◽

Generation Efficiency ◽

Technology Gaps ◽

Thermal Power Generation

Abstract Background The energy generation efficiencies of thermal power and hydropower, which are the two main forces of electric power in China, are important factors affecting the energy conservation, emission reduction, and green development of the country’s whole power industry. Methods Considering regional differences and multiple efficient decision-making units (DMUs), this research uses the meta-Frontier super-efficiency slack-based measure (meta-SE-SBM) undesirable model to comprehensively evaluate the efficiencies of hydropower and thermal power generation in China. The CO2 emissions of thermal power generation are taken as the undesirable output. Results The ranking of the average meta-efficiency of thermal power generation in China is Eastern China > Central China > Western China, and all regions show an upward trend. However, the ranking of the average meta-efficiency of hydropower generation is Western China > Central China > Eastern China, and all these regions present a downward trend. In 2017, the technology gap ratio (TGR) values for the thermal power generation efficiency of the eastern and western regions showed a rising trend, while that for the central region showed a declining trend. The TGR values of the hydropower generation efficiency of the western region continued to increase, while those of the central and eastern regions decreased. The development trends of the TGR values of the thermal power or hydropower generation efficiencies of the three regions were not consistent with each other, indicating that technological convergence has not been achieved. In the three regions, the technology gaps in hydropower have slightly expanded, but the technology gaps in thermal power have gradually narrowed. The undesirable output CO2 of the thermal power energy efficiency of the three regions is in a surplus, and the generation of hydropower in the eastern and central regions is insufficient. Conclusions The government and power industry managers should fully consider regional heterogeneity in the efficiency of hydropower and thermal power to reduce the technology gap in China. The thermal power industry is relatively mature, but its CO2 emissions should be controlled. The hydropower industry needs further policy support to promote an efficiency improvement in it under the condition of resource endowments.

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Environment-Thermal Power Generation Nexus: The Indian Scenario

Energy & Environment ◽

10.1177/0958305x9400500202 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 105-120 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Subhes C. Bhattacharyya

Keyword(s):

Power Generation ◽

Electric Power ◽

Environmental Effects ◽

Environmental Control ◽

Thermal Power ◽

Environmental Issues ◽

Power Industry ◽

The Status ◽

Thermal Power Generation ◽

Indian Scenario

Coal based thermal power has emerged as the major source of electric power in India over the years and this trend is expected to continue even in the future. The environmental effects of thermal power generation are becoming a major concern. Here we present a review of the status of environmental control at present in terms of regulation and their application in the power industry and study the environmental issues of and options for the thermal power generation.

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Energy Cost Performance of Thermal Power Industry in China Considering Regional Heterogeneity: A Meta-Frontier Cost Malmquist Productivity Decomposition Approach

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13126823 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (12) ◽

pp. 6823

Author(s):

Zhigang Zhu ◽

Xuping Zhang ◽

Yujia Wang ◽

Xiang Chen

Keyword(s):

Power Generation ◽

Carbon Emissions ◽

Energy Cost ◽

Thermal Power ◽

Power Industry ◽

Economic Benefits ◽

Eastern Region ◽

Regional Heterogeneity ◽

Decomposition Approach ◽

Thermal Power Generation

Since thermal power generation is still one of the main sources of carbon emissions in China, the economic benefits and productivity of the thermal power generation industry have been seriously affected in recent years with the increasingly strict environmental regulations and restrictions on carbon emissions, as well as by the sharp fluctuations of coal prices. Therefore, it has been an important issue to improve the productivity performance of the thermal power industry. Due to the regional heterogeneity among different regions of China, we introduced a meta-frontier framework into the energy cost productivity model to develop a meta-energy cost productivity model. The energy cost gap between the group-specific and meta-frontiers was also utilized to assess the convergence rate of the group-specific frontier to the meta-frontier. The estimated results present that the energy cost efficiency of the eastern region outperformed that of the other two regions, and the cost Malmquist (CM) productivity of these three regions all showed positive growth, in which the progress of allocative efficiency and price effect were the main driving factors. Additionally, the central and western regions displayed the convergence of group-specific CM productivity towards the meta-frontier.

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Comparison and Optimization of energy efficiency between Hydropower and thermal power in China

10.21203/rs.3.rs-100233/v2 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ze Tian ◽

Ruomei Wang ◽

Fang-rong Ren

Keyword(s):

Power Generation ◽

Regional Differences ◽

Thermal Power ◽

Power Industry ◽

Western Region ◽

Undesirable Output ◽

Green Development ◽

Thermal Power Generation ◽

Equipment Utilization ◽

Installed Capacity

Abstract Background: As the two main forces of China’s power electricity, the energy generation efficiencies of thermal power and hydropower are important factors affecting the energy conservation, emissions reduction, and green development of the country’s whole power industry.Methods: Considering regional differences and multiple effective decision-making units, this research uses the Meta-SE-SBM undesirable model to comprehensively evaluate the efficiencies of hydropower and thermal power generation in China, taking CO2 emissions of thermal power generation as the undesirable output.Results: The average group efficiency of thermal power generation in the central region has greatly improved, the eastern and western regions also show an upward trend, but there is a slight downward trend for hydropower in the three regions. The hydropower technological gaps in the three regions have slightly expanded, but their thermal power technology gaps have gradually narrowed. From the perspective of input-output non-efficiency level, the undesirable output CO2 of thermal power energy efficiency in the eastern, central, and western regions is in a surplus, the redundancy of equipment utilization hours, energy input, and installed capacity in the western region are all high, but generation in the western region is insufficient, leading to relatively low efficiency of thermal power generation there. In the eastern region the redundancy of equipment utilization hours, number of employees, and installed capacity are all high, but the generation of hydropower in the eastern and central regions is insufficient, leading to relatively low hydropower efficiency in these two regions.Conclusions: When formulating policies to promote China’s power efficiency improvement and green development, the government and power industry managers should fully consider regional differences in the efficiencies of hydropower and thermal power. The thermal power industry is relatively mature, but its CO2 emissions should be reduced and the scale of thermal power cannot be blindly expanded. The hydropower industry needs further policy support to increase market share and to enhance the local power industry’s competitiveness under the condition of its resource endowments.

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