Recently, the general office of the State Council released the guidance on further promoting the pilot work of paid use and trading of emission rights, which mentioned that thermal power enterprises (including self owned power plants in other industries, excluding the heating part of cogeneration units) are not allowed to trade emission rights involving air pollutants with enterprises in other industries in principle. Areas whose environmental quality does not meet the requirements shall not carry out emission trading to increase the total amount of pollutants in their own areas. Analysts pointed out that it is expected that thermal power enterprises will enter a period of rapid growth in denitrification investment and environmental improvement, and it is expected that desulfurization enterprises will enter a period of rapid development of denitrification equipment.

Emission trading of thermal power enterprises banned

Since 2007, the relevant departments of the State Council have organized 11 provinces (autonomous regions and cities) such as Tianjin, Hebei and Inner Mongolia to carry out the pilot of paid use and trading of emission rights, and made some progress. In order to further promote the pilot work and promote the continuous and effective reduction of the total discharge of major pollutants, the general office of the State Council recently released the guiding opinions on further promoting the pilot work of paid use and trading of emission rights.

The opinions put forward that the establishment of the paid use and trading system of emission rights is a major and basic mechanism innovation and system reform in the field of environmental resources in China. It is an important part of the construction of ecological civilization system. It will have a positive impact on giving better play to the role of the total pollutant control system, establishing the concept of valuable environmental resources in the whole society, and promoting the sustainable and healthy development of economy and society. By 2017, the paid use and trading system of emission rights in the pilot areas will be basically established, and the pilot work will be basically completed.

In terms of controlling the scope of trading, the opinions put forward that emission trading should be carried out in each pilot province in principle. Emissions trading involving water pollutants is conducted in the same region. In principle, thermal power enterprises (including self owned power plants in other industries, excluding the heating part of cogeneration units) shall not conduct emission trading involving air pollutants with enterprises in other industries. Areas whose environmental quality does not meet the requirements shall not carry out emission trading to increase the total amount of pollutants in their own areas. Industrial pollution sources shall not trade emission permits with agricultural pollution sources.

Analysts pointed out that thermal power enterprises are prohibited from participating in the trading of emission rights, their own investment in desulfurization and denitration is expected to increase, the demand for desulfurization and denitration equipment is expected to usher in rapid growth, the spring breeze of policy is once again blowing into the field of environmental protection, and the desulfurization and denitration industry is expected to benefit significantly.

The market scale of thermal power denitration may reach 300 billion

In recent years, the spring breeze of policy has frequently patronized the desulfurization and denitration industry. As early as September 2011, the Ministry of environmental protection issued the newly revised emission standard of air pollutants for thermal power plants, which was implemented from January 1, 2012. According to the requirements of the standard, by 2015, all operating and newly-built thermal power units in China shall be equipped with flue gas denitration facilities, so as to achieve the overall goal of reducing sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by 8% and 10% respectively as required in the outline of the 12th Five Year Plan. According to the requirements, the nitrogen oxide emission of new units shall not exceed 100 mg / m3 from January 1, 2012 and old units from July 1, 2014. Subsequently, the development and Reform Commission issued a notice to try out denitration electricity price subsidies in 14 provinces and autonomous regions such as Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, with a tentative standard of 8% per kWh. The above measures have played a significant role in NOx emission reduction. Relevant data show that the national NOx emission decreased by 0.24% year-on-year in the first half of 2012; The average denitration efficiency of national denitration units was 40.3%, 16.1 percentage points higher than that in 2011.

On January 9, 2013, the development and Reform Commission issued the notice on issues related to expanding the pilot scope of denitration electricity price policy, which expanded the pilot scope of denitration electricity price from some coal-fired generating units in 14 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) to all coal-fired generating units in the country as of January 1, 2013; At the same time, the denitration price standard is 8% per kWh. Institutions generally predict that, driven by the policy, flue gas denitration of thermal power plants across the country will enter a centralized outbreak period. It is estimated that the installed capacity of denitration of new thermal power plants in China this year will reach 150 million KW. By the end of the 12th Five Year Plan, the resulting flue gas denitration market will reach 300 billion yuan.

Some insiders pointed out that the popularization rate of denitration in thermal power in China is not high. According to incomplete statistics, the units with denitration devices installed in thermal power plants are about 100 million KW, which is less than 15% of the current total installed capacity of 707 million KW, which is still far from the popularization rate of denitration required by the Ministry of environmental protection. The development and Reform Commission will further expand the pilot scope of denitration electricity price, which will further expand the denitration market capacity.

Accelerating the release of market potential of environmental protection equipment

At present, after the expansion of desulfurization and denitration market, companies with competitive advantages in denitration engineering, low nitrogen combustion, SCR and catalyst market will achieve great development; Companies with the technical capability of denitration in the previous stage, companies engaged in EPC and BOT of denitration projects and companies engaged in denitration monitoring business will benefit from it.

Some experts pointed out that according to the new atmospheric emission standards for thermal power plants, it is preliminarily estimated that the transformation cost of 707 million KW thermal power units in service in China is about 200 billion-250 billion yuan. Considering that 250 million kilowatts of thermal power units will be added in the 12th Five Year Plan, the annual operation cost of environmental protection facilities due to the improvement of standards is about 90 billion-110 billion yuan. In 2012, the total bidding volume of denitration in China was about 100 million KW. In 2013, the bidding volume of denitration must be doubled to ensure that all denitration bidding can be started before the full implementation of the new emission standard on July 1, 2014. In view of this, in the future, the denitration market of new units should be started before the transformation market of existing units. It is expected that by the end of the 12th Five Year Plan, the denitration task of nearly 1 billion kw thermal power units in China will be completed as scheduled, and the market of nearly 300 billion yuan is expected to be released gradually. At present, the gross profit margin of denitration products and engineering services of domestic first-line manufacturers is generally between 20% and 40%, with abundant orders.

Analysts pointed out that on the one hand, the national pilot of thermal power denitration price subsidy is stimulating the rapid development of thermal power denitration market; On the other hand, thermal power enterprises are prohibited from participating in the trading of emission rights, the enterprise's own investment in desulfurization and denitration is expected to increase, the demand for desulfurization and denitration equipment is also expected to increase significantly, and the desulfurization and denitration industry is expected to enter a period of rapid development.