China’s first Hualong One 3rd-generation nuclear power plant in Fuqing, Fujian Province, achieved its first grid connection and power generation early Friday, breaking the foreign technology monopoly.
Hualong One 3rd-generation nuclear power plant
Chinese companies given ‘verbal notice’ to stop importing Australian coal
Australia is China’s largest supplier of thermal coal, providing up to 35 per cent of the mineral used for electricity generation. Australian exports of coking coal, which is used to make steel, surged by 67 per cent in the first half of 2020 as China embarked on an infrastructure led recovery from the coronavirus.
- Responding to reports saying China has ordered a halt to imports of Australian coal, Chinese Customs said on Tue that it will strengthen import supervision on related products, asking reporters to consult relevant authorities for further information.
- Trade between China and Australia in the first three quarters went down 1.1%, with Chinese imports of Australian products down 5.1%: spokesperson of Chinese customs.
- Scott Morrison said the government was investigating the reports, but it was “important not to get ahead of ourselves here” because it was “not uncommon” for China to impose domestic quotas to support local coal production and jobs.
“That is not uncommon to see that and I can only assume, based on our relationship and based on the discussions we have with the Chinese government, that that is just part of their normal process,” the prime minister said in Brisbane on Tuesday. We’ll see, Scott. - Mongolia’s coal exports to China have been accelerating recently, as evidenced by the fact that coal transportation via truck has reached 1,000 units/day at the Ganqimaodu checkpoint in North China’s Inner Mongolia, the country’s largest import conduit for Mongolian coal, according to Chinese sources. A month ago the volume was only at about 600 trucks/day,
Cauchari photovoltaic solar project in Jujuy Province, Argentina
9-26-20 The China-built Cauchari photovoltaic solar project in Jujuy Province, Argentina, the largest solar project in the country was put into use on Sat. The project is to bring self-sufficient electricity and an annual income of $50 million to the province.
Construction on the 300MW Cauchari solar project phase one was started in October 2017, with an investment of £301m ($390m). The phase one was inaugurated after the completion of trial run in October 2019.
The 300MW Cauchari solar farm, with an estimated lifespan of 25 years, is expected to generate approximately 660GWh of clean electricity a year, which will be enough to power more than 160,000 households.
It is further planned for a 200MW expansion in the next phase to bring the total capacity to 500MW, which will be enough to meet the electricity needs of approximately 260,000 Argentine homes.
China has completed the research and development of Guohe-1
China has completed the research and development of Guohe-1 国和一号 , a third-generation nuclear power technology with completely independent intellectual property rights. “As one of China’s 16 major science and technology projects, Guohe-1 represents the advanced level of third-generation nuclear power technology in the world today and is the latest achievement in China’s nuclear power technology research and development and industrial innovation.
China’s First Homegrown Nuclear Reactor Begins Loading Fuel
China National Nuclear Power Co., a unit of China National Nuclear Corp., said fuel loading started at the Fuqing No. 5 reactor 福清核电5号 , the first to use the domestic technology 华龙一号(原称ACP-1000), on Sept. 4 after securing an operating license from the nation’s Ministry of Ecology & Environment.
Traveling-wave reactors project cancelled
China National Nuclear Power will cancel a nuclear energy technology development subsidiary scheduled to cooperate with Bill Gates’ Terra Power to develop fourth-generation nuclear energy technology because the US government is standing in the way of the partnership, CNNP announced yesterday.
Terra Power unilaterally terminated the cooperation in the fourth-generation nuclear energy technology traveling-wave reactor with the technology transfer limitations placed by the Trump administration, resulting in the loss of the foundation for the cooperation, the major Chinese energy developer said in its announcement.
CNNP decided to dissolve and cancel CNNP TWR Technology Investment Tianjin overseeing the project funding and CNPC Hebei Nuclear Power in charge of implementing the project, per the announcement.
CNNP’s wholly-owned CNNP Technology Investment unit holds a 50 percent stake in each of the two project companies.
CNNP TWR and Terra Power’s wholly-owned subsidiary set up a joint venture Global Innovation Nuclear Energy Technology with a 50:50 split in November 2017 to jointly develop traveling-wave reactor technology and advance the TWR project, per the announcement.
TWR is fourth-generation nuclear power technology, which uses a nuclear fission reactor to convert material into usable fuel via nuclear transmutation, in conjunction with the burnup of fissile material. Existing unclear power can directly use only about 0.7 percent of the isotopes in natural uranium, but the TWR technology can use 30 percent to 40 percent, and even 60 percent to 70 percent in some cases.
Theoretically the TWR technology can sustain operations for decades on one charge of fuel without replenishment or removal of spent fuel, which reduces the cost and environmental risks of nuclear energy as well as the risk of nuclear proliferation.
Wind Energy
Jinko Power Technology Co and France’s EDF won a power purchase agreement with UAE’s EWEC for a 2GW solar power project at Al Dhafra
A consortium consisting of Chinese solar energy Jinko Power Technology Co and France’s EDF won a power purchase agreement with UAE’s EWEC for a 2GW solar power project at Al Dhafra. The project will be the world’s largest solar power plant, & will power 160,000 households.
With an expected production capacity of 2 GW, the Al Dhafra Solar PV Project will almost double the size of the approximately 1.2 GW Noor Abu Dhabi solar plant – amongst the largest operational solar PV plants in the world.
The Noor Abu Dhabi project, which was awarded to Marubeni Corp and Jinko Consortium in 2017, commenced commercial operations in April 2019.
Construction begins on China-Russia pipeline project under Yangtze River
China officially began the world’s largest tunnel construction under a major river on Tuesday, kick starting the construction of the 1,509-kilometer-long southern Chinese section of the China-Russia east-route natural gas pipeline.
The tunnel under the Yangtze River is a key project of the southern Chinese section of the pipeline, which will connect Yongqing in North China’s Hebei Province with the economic hub of Shanghai.
The China Oil & Gas Piping Network Corporation, the national oil and gas pipeline company launched late last year, said that after the key project is completed by June 2025, annual throughput will reach 18.9 billion cubic meters per year.
Energy traffic in the Yangtze River Delta will be immensely improved, with imported Russian natural gas meeting civilian and industrial demand in the region, the company said.
Russia Delivers First Arctic Oil To Key Ally China
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Russia-Delivers-First-Arctic-Oil-To-Key-Ally-China.html
Last week saw Russia’s Gazprom Neft, the country’s third biggest oil company by output and the oil arm of state gas giant Gazprom, ship its first cargo of oil produced in the Arctic to China via the Northern Sea Route (NSR). This shipment East adds to its existing Western exports via the NSR to Europe. According to Gazprom Neft, it took 47 days to deliver a full cargo of 144,000 tonnes of sweet, light Novy Port oil from the Yamal peninsula developments to the Chinese port of Yantai on the Bohai Sea, from Russia’s north-western city of Murmansk. “Successful experience in the sale of Arctic oil in the European market and an in-depth insight of Asia-Pacific markets allow Gazprom Neft to offer Novy Port oil with a unique year-round logistics scheme to Asian partners,” said Gazprom Neft’s deputy director general for logistics, processing and sales, Anatoly Cherner, last week.