Engineering and optimization approaches to enhance the thermal efficiency of coal electricity generation in China

China has made improving the thermal efficiencies of its coal-fired power plants a national priority. Official data show that the average thermal efficiency was enhanced from 31.3% in 2000 to 33.2% in 2005 and 36.9% in 2010. This paper aims to assess the validity of China's claimed improvement, examine major responsible factors, and identify future improvement opportunities. Recognizable factors can account for about 80% of the reported progress in the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001–2005) and about 85% in the 11th (2006–2010) to largely verify the reported progress. Engineering approaches—especially replacing inefficient power units with more efficient ones—are the largest contributing factors, while optimization approaches—particularly electricity dispatch—remains inefficient in China. In 2010, the explainable efficiency improvement might have avoided around 500 million tons of CO2 emissions. In comparison, although the United States was fairly static with most of its coal-fired power plants seriously outdated, it has more efficient electricity dispatch. In China's ongoing 12th Five-Year Plan (2011–2015), better dispatch patterns could be more important as opportunities for improvement through engineering approaches have been largely exhausted.