Under the background of high coal price, the performance of thermal power enterprises is under heavy pressure in 2021. On March 26, the annual report disclosed by Huadian Power International Corporation Limited(600027) showed that although the revenue in 2021 increased by 12.27% year-on-year to 104.4 billion yuan, the net profit lost 4.965 billion yuan. And Huaneng Power International Inc(600011) which released the annual report earlier lost 10.26 billion yuan.
In addition, according to the data of China stock market news choice, as of March 27, a total of 23 enterprises in the A-share thermal power sector disclosed their annual report or performance forecast in 2021, all of which fell sharply, of which 18 thermal power enterprises suffered losses, with a total loss of more than 46 billion yuan.
“The sharp rise in coal prices in 2021 will bring huge cost pressure to power generation enterprises.” Yuan Shuai, Deputy Secretary General of Rural Revitalization and Construction Committee of China Cultural Management Association and researcher of new energy industry development, said in an interview with Securities Daily that in order to alleviate the phenomenon of “cost inversion” in the coal-fired power industry, electricity prices have been raised in many places since the second half of last year. However, compared with the significant increase in coal-fired costs, the increase in electricity prices of power generation enterprises is relatively small, and operating losses are inevitable.
high price of thermal coal
the total loss of 18 thermal power enterprises is expected to exceed 46 billion yuan
Fuel is the main production cost of thermal power plant, accounting for about 70% to 80% of the cost of thermal power generation. Therefore, the price of coal is directly related to the profit and loss of thermal power plant.
In 2021, the global energy supply is tight, the supply and demand situation in the coal market is tight, and the coal price rises sharply. Especially in October, thermal coal futures once soared close to the 2000 yuan / ton mark, and the spot price also jumped to more than 2500 yuan / ton. Since then, after the joint adjustment of multiple departments, the price of thermal coal futures has cooled rapidly.
However, from the perspective of the whole year, the average price of ceci5500 kcal thermal coal index in 2021 was 1044 yuan / ton, still rising sharply by 81.3% year-on-year, which had a great impact on the profits of thermal power enterprises.
Referring to the losses in 2021, many thermal power enterprises have mentioned high coal prices.
Huaneng Power International Inc(600011) relevant people told the reporter of Securities Daily that the thermal power sector of the company has not been profitable since the second quarter of last year. With the rise of coal prices, the loss in a single quarter in the fourth quarter of last year alone exceeded 10 billion yuan Gd Power Development Co.Ltd(600795) people also said that the coal price increased by about 300 yuan / ton year-on-year, and the fuel cost increased significantly, resulting in the company’s performance loss in 2021.
“Although there is Changxie coal, because the quantity is guaranteed but the price is not guaranteed, the final price is determined according to the spot price of power coal in the market, and the high spot price has also pushed up the cost of the company.” Huaneng Power International Inc(600011) the aforementioned person said that in 2021, the comprehensive purchase price of raw coal of the company was 770.67 yuan / ton, an increase of 60.85% year-on-year. The unit fuel cost of power sales of domestic thermal power plants was 316.36 yuan / MWh, up 51.32% year-on-year.
In the face of the situation of “double sky of coal and electricity”, policy supervision is also taking action. On the one hand, the policy of ensuring supply and stabilizing price has been put into force frequently, and the coal price has been falling steadily, which has effectively reduced the production cost of thermal power enterprises; On the other hand, start the reform of coal electricity price mechanism. Allow the fluctuation range of transaction electricity price in the coal-fired power generation market to be no more than 20%, and the market transaction electricity price of high energy consuming enterprises is not limited by the upward fluctuation of 20%. Cancel the industrial and commercial catalog sales electricity price, and promote all industrial and commercial users to enter the power market.
However, due to the large increase in the price of thermal coal last year, the performance of thermal power enterprises still showed a decline in the whole industry. According to the data of China stock market news choice, as of March 27, a total of 23 enterprises in the A-share thermal power sector have disclosed the annual report or performance forecast of 2021, and their performance has fallen sharply. Only 5 enterprises achieved profits (mainly affected by the earnings of non thermal power sector), and the remaining 18 enterprises are expected to have a total loss of 46.77 billion yuan to 52.35 billion yuan.
accelerate the pace of transformation
new energy installed capacity will increase significantly
After the sharp rise in coal prices in 2021, what kind of development situation will thermal power enterprises face in 2022?
According to insiders, since 2022, relevant departments have issued a number of policies, especially the notice on further improving the coal market price formation mechanism, which defines the reasonable range of coal medium and long-term transaction price from 570 yuan / ton to 770 yuan / ton. With the development of national policies, coal prices gradually return to a reasonable range. The latest Bohai Rim thermal coal price index released on March 23 closed at 738 yuan / ton, unchanged month on month.
Huaneng Power International Inc(600011) the aforementioned person believes that “at present, the spot price of thermal coal is still high. The company will continue to make overall planning for coal procurement, strive to increase the coverage and cash rate of Changxie coal and further reduce fuel costs.”
Yuan Shuai said, “under the constraint of coal supply price, the pricing reform of power industry has become the general trend, and the long-term profit center of thermal power enterprises is expected to improve.”
In Yuan Shuai’s view, what thermal power enterprises need more is industrial transformation. “Driven by the long-term goal of carbon neutrality, the proportion of clean energy will continue to increase. If thermal power was the main body of power supply before and new energy was used as peak shaving, the roles of the two will be reversed in the future. From the long-term development trend in the future, the share of thermal power will undoubtedly continue to decline, so traditional thermal power enterprises are required to improve the difficulties faced by enterprises through the transformation to new energy,” he said
Huaneng Power International Inc(600011) the above-mentioned persons also hold this view. He said, “the company will continue to accelerate the installed capacity and power generation of new energy such as wind power and photovoltaic, and increase the proportion of new energy. During the 14th Five Year Plan period, the company will strive to increase the installed capacity of new energy by about 40 million kilowatts.”
Huadian Power International Corporation Limited(600027) said that while promoting the transformation and upgrading of coal-fired power units, we should accelerate the promotion of new green development formats such as energy storage and vigorously promote the development of pumped storage projects.
