Low-carbon development strategies for the top five power generation groups during China׳s 12th Five-Year Plan period

With dual pressures of climate change and energy crisis, the development of low-carbon economy has become the biggest national economic and social development problem, which is also explicitly proposed in China׳s 12th Five-Year Plan Outline. Power generation enterprises in China have characteristics of high energy consumption, high pollution and high emission, so their clean development is crucial to realize low-carbon economy development. Since the reform of China electricity market was carried out in 2002, power generation enterprises, originally belonging to the national power grid, were divided into five independent groups including China Datang Corporation, China Huaneng Group, China Huadian Corporation, China Guodian Corporation and China Power Investment Corporation. These five enterprises now have become the top five power generation groups in market share of installed capacity and power production, while they are most sensitive to energy policies in China. This article analyze energy conservation and emission reduction efforts of the top five power generation groups during 11th Five-Year Plan period and low-carbon strategies during 12th Five-Year Plan period to predict future development of low-carbon electricity in China.