Sichuan in 2014 had a nominal GDP of $460bn, about 4% of China’s overall economy. Between 50% and 60% of the electricity generated by Sichuan’s power fleet is consumed by the local manufacturing industries that largely support the province’s economic growth. The rest of Sichuan’s power generation is consumed by residential and commercial customers or exported.
As of year-end 2014, Sichuan had a total installed power generation capacity of 78.8GW, of which 80% (63GW) was hydro and about 20% (15.5GW) was coal. Wind and solar PV capacity reached 290MW and 60MW in 2014, respectively. In 2014, 82% of the total 313TWh of electricity generated in Sichuan came from hydro. The balance was supplied mainly by coal. Sichuan exported about 30% of its generation to provinces where demand exceeds internal supply, among them Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
Unlike northern provinces with more open land, which have been targeted for aggressive wind and PV development in the next decade, Sichuan’s renewables potential is more limited. The province does plan to add up to 2GW of nuclear power by 2030. At end-2014, Sichuan had zero nuclear power capacity. However, the siting of new nuclear power plants has proven to be challenging in Sichuan because of its history of catastrophic earthquakes.
Sichuan has been reducing its coal usage and energy intensity. As of 2015, the total consumption of coal power is down by 8% from the 2010 level. The consumption of electricity form non-fossil fuels increased 6.5% during the same period.