Page 149 - Sustainable Cities and Communities Design Handbook

126 Sustainable Cities and Communities Design Handbook

Meanwhile, the national smart grid investment funds will be multiplied
tenfold. According to the national smart grid plan, smart grid radiation range is
extensive. New industries such as smart city and smart transportation will also
be spawned so that the market size is extremely attractive.
Moreover, smart grid construction provides a huge benefit. Specifically, by
2020, the benefits will be as follows:

l The power generation benefits will be around $5.5 billion, saving the
system effective capacity investment and reducing power generation costs
by RMB 1e1.5 cents/kWh.
l Grid link benefit will be about $3.2 billion, grid loss will reduced by 7
billion kWh, and the maximum peak load will be decreased by 3.8%.
l User benefit will be about $5.1 billion, by offering a variety of services,
saving 44.5 billion kWh of electricity.
l The environmental benefits will be about $7 billion, conserving land of
about 2000 acres/year, reducing emission of SO 2 of about 1 million tons,
and reducing CO 2 emission of approximately 250 million tons.
l Other social benefits will be about $9.2 billion, increasing employment
opportunities for 145,000/year, saving the cost of electricity, and promot-
ing balanced regional development.

Historical Review and Attributes of the Third-Generation Grid
Currently, China aims to become the world’s largest smart grid user in the
power industry. It is imperative to have advantageous elements including a
robust and a low-cost smart grid and that accommodate the renewable clean
energy.
China’s power industry began in 1882 with the birth of the Shanghai Electric
Power Company, which produced the first-generation grid of China. Till 1949,
Chinese power generation equipment installed capacity was 1.85 GW with a
generating capacity of 4.31 billion kWh. The second-generation grids con-
structed since the 1970s aimed to interconnect the national grid. The Northwest
Power Grid 750-kV transmission line started operating in 2005 and China’s first
1000-kV UHV transmission lines were built in 2009. Till July 2010, China’s
transmission lines of 220 kV or above are over 375,000 km in length, which
exceeds those of the United States and rank first in the world.
In fact, the total Chinese power installation reached 1 TW by the end of
2011 such that the annual total electricity consumption was 4.7 trillion kWh.
The grid-connected new energy power generation capacity reached 51.6 GW,
of which there was 45.1 GW of wind power, accounting for 4.27% of the total
installed capacity; grid-connected solar PV capacity of 2.1 GW, accounting for
0.2%; biomass-installed power capacity of 4.4 GW, accounting for 0.4%;
geothermal power generation capacity of 24 MW; and ocean energy power
generation capacity of 6 MW.