Influence of China’s Overseas power stations on the electricity status of their host countries

Abstract

China has become a major investor and constructor of electrical power plants in developing countries. However, the impacts of China's overseas power stations (COPSs) on the developing countries hosting them are poorly understood. Here, a novel method is proposed to evaluate the influence of COPSs in 80 host countries. First, their electricity consumption from 1971 to 2017 was estimated using data provided by the World Bank, International Energy Agency, and World Resources Institute. Regression analysis was then used to predict consumption from 2018 to 2025. Finally, three parameters were used to evaluate the influences of COPSs. The results show that: 1) COPSs significantly increased the total installed capacity of 35 of the host countries by > 20%. 2) The power generated by COPSs is greater than the growing demands of 32 of the host countries. 3) COPSs will increase the per capita electricity consumption of all 80 host countries. 4) Among the 437 COPSs existing in 2000–2019, renewable power plants (including hydropower) were most numerous, accounting for 51.3%. This proportion increased significantly after 2013 and renewable plants will continue to dominate as China will no longer invest in new coal-fired power stations after 2021.

Keywords

• influence of china’s overseas power stations
• belt and road initiative
• electricity status
• renewable sources of energy
• sdg7