Xinhua news agency, Taiyuan, January 3 – coal is a “ballast” for China’s energy security and stable supply. Looking back on 2021, the supply and demand of coal was tight, the price once soared, and some provinces once switched off and limited power. With the implementation of measures to increase production and supply, the situation of coal supply and demand has continued to improve, the coal storage level of power plants has increased rapidly, and intellectualization and greening have played a great role in energy supply.
coal power supply guarantee achieved phased results
As an important transmission terminal of “power transmission from west to East”, Ningxia undertakes the responsibility of power transmission to more than a dozen provinces in China. However, due to the insufficient supply and high price of power coal, Ningxia has experienced a large-scale power shortage for the first time in recent years since July 2021.
Since March 2021, the channel of coal price rise has been opened. It broke through the 1000 yuan mark in September and rose to more than 2000 yuan per ton in October. Due to the high coal price and continued strong demand, some provinces once switched off and limited power.
Since October 2021, all departments and coal enterprises have promoted the maintenance of coal supply and stable price. The coal production capacity of main producing areas such as Shanxi, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia has been released rapidly, and the spot price of coal has fallen sharply.
The daily coal output of Foryou Corporation(002906) No. 1 coal mine in Yangquan City, Shanxi Province is about 25000 tons. Since the fourth quarter of 2021, on the premise of ensuring safe production, the mine has improved the process and turned on full power. More than half of the coal is sent to Hainan Province by rail and sea.
“We have increased the coal loading bunker opening to improve the pulling capacity of the belt conveyor. The belt speed is increased from the original 2 m / s to 2.5 m / s, and the railway outward transportation volume can be increased by 2000 tons a day.” Jia Yi, the person in charge of the coal preparation plant of No. 1 coal mine, said that by strengthening the supervision of the whole process of loading, we can ensure more coal and good coal. By December 22, 2021, Foryou Corporation(002906) has completed the supply guarantee task of shipping 1.7 million tons of electric coal to Hainan Province in advance.
According to the data of Shanxi Provincial Energy Bureau, since October 2021, the average daily coal output in Shanxi has remained above 3.3 million tons; In the first 11 months, the output of raw coal reached 1.097 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 120 million tons, an increase of 12.4%.
With the continuous development of supply guarantee measures, the coal supply and demand situation continues to improve. At present, the coal storage of national heating and power generation enterprises has been guaranteed. The average price of coal in Shanxi, Shaanxi Yulin and other places has dropped to about 900 yuan / ton. The startup rate of coal-fired power units in Ningxia has increased from less than 50% to 86%. Since November 3, 2021, Ningxia power grid has not implemented orderly power consumption.
intelligent and green become an important support
Fei Guoxing, 45, sat in the duty room of the electromechanical team of Shaanxi coal Yubei caojiatan company, opened the mobile app and monitored the information of electromechanical equipment in the underground mine. This is a picture he never imagined when he just worked in the mine 23 years ago.
In the dispatching command center of caojiatan coal mine, the staff monitored the operation of equipment on and under the well and the actual situation of on-site work through “smart brain” dispatching. The underground place is spacious and bright, and the shearer moves forward to cut the coal. After several processes, the coal blocks are finally transported to the coal storage bunker by belt. The whole process is orderly and requires little manual intervention.
“The actual employment of one shift of the fully mechanized mining team is reduced from 15 to 7. These seven people alone can produce 3500 tons of raw coal in two hours!” Said Li Peichen, Secretary of the Party branch of the second fully mechanized mining team of caojiatan coal mine.
Intellectualization has become an important support for increasing coal production and supply. At present, Yulin City, Shaanxi Province has built 20 modern super large coal mines with a capacity of 10 million tons or more, accounting for more than 50%, and the mechanization and automation of coal production in the city has reached more than 90%.
In Shanxi, a major coal province, 154 similar intelligent mining faces have been built, with advanced production capacity accounting for 68%. The holsinghe coal mine under the Shanxi Coking Coal Energy Group Co.Ltd(000983) group claimed the supply guarantee task of 4627500 tons. In order to improve production efficiency, the coal mine increases the number of early maintenance personnel and improves maintenance efficiency. Using AR glasses, underground maintenance personnel can connect with a large team of engineers on the ground in real time to quickly solve difficult problems.
The pace of green transformation of electric power has also been significantly accelerated. From traditional thermal power units to walking in the same direction with new energy, Shanxi Guojin coal power company has participated in deep peak shaving for more than 2000 hours for two consecutive heating periods, and transferred nearly 200 million kwh for clean energy such as wind power and photovoltaic. According to the data of State Grid Shanxi electric power company, at present, 15.8 million KW coal-fired power units in Shanxi have completed flexible transformation, effectively boosting the consumption of new energy.
As the strategic base of “west to East power transmission”, the annual power transmission scale of Ningxia has achieved 10 billion step-by-step growth for several consecutive years. By taking the lead in adopting the mode of binding and sending out clean energy and thermal power, Ningxia’s rich “green power” is sent to all parts of the country, and the trend of clean energy supply is becoming more and more obvious.
how to stabilize the energy “ballast”?
Looking back on the trend of coal market in 2021, industry analysts said that affected by the epidemic situation, extreme weather, green energy transformation and other factors, the increment of imported coal supply was limited, the high calorific value coal source was in short supply, the hydropower generation was not ideal, the global economic recovery and China’s demand were better than expected, and the comprehensive factors of self supply and demand finally led to the soaring price of coal.
Some experts in the energy and economic fields believe that with the slowdown of global energy demand growth and the easing of supply constraints, the mismatch between supply and demand is expected to improve in 2022. In particular, global liquidity is gradually tightened, and the prices of traditional energy such as coal, oil and natural gas are expected to fall from a high level.
At present, China’s advanced coal production capacity is still being released. According to the data of Shanxi Provincial Energy Bureau, as of December 28, 2021, Shanxi has completed the nuclear increase of production capacity of 49 coal mines, with a net increase capacity of 56.8 million tons / year. Jinneng holding group and other coal business circles judge that China’s coal supply capacity will be significantly enhanced as relevant state departments increase production capacity, coordinate some coal mines, improve procedures, and gradually release new production capacity. At the same time, the scale of new energy replacing traditional energy will gradually expand, and the growth of coal demand will be limited.
As the “stabilizer” and “ballast stone” of the market, the medium and long-term coal contract system will be further improved in 2022. At the 2022 national coal Fair held not long ago, coal production enterprises from Shanxi, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia signed medium and long-term contracts with some large power generation, steel and heating enterprises in China. The first batch of contracts exceeded 260 million tons, which will further stabilize the price expectation, promote the orderly return of the market and ensure the safe and stable supply of coal.
(Xinhua News Agency)
