『Abstract
　In accordance with the energy planning in China, within the “Twelfth Five-Year” period (2011-2-15), the proportion of natural gas among primary energy consumption is expected to increase from the current 4% to 8%. In 2015, about 17 natural gas pipelines will be completed. This paper reviews the current situation of gas power generation, analyzes the the main opportunities and obstacles of gas power generation development in China, and conducts a techno-economic assessment of the natural gas power generation, taking into account the role and the interaction of the multiple stakeholders in the natural gas industry chain. Taking a power plant fueled with the natural gas transported by the second West-to-East Pipeline as an example, it is found that the on-grid power price fluctuates upward with the rise of gas price and downward with the increase of annual utilization hours, and the influences of tax policies on the on-grid power price prove to be highly significant. As the analysis and calculation indicate, the environmental benefits of natural gas power generation ought to be strongly emphasized, compared with coal-fired power generation. Finally, this paper puts forward specific policy recommendations, from the perspectives of electricity price, gas price, tax, power grid dispatching, etc.

Keywords: Gas power generation; Techno-economic assessment; Environmental benefits』

1. Introduction
　1.1. Development of natural gas industry in China
　1.2. Natural gas power generation
2. Opportunities and challenges of developing gas power generation in China
　2.1. Opportunities of gas power generation in China
　　2.1.1. Energy structure optimization and environmental protection
　　2.1.2. Vital function of natural gas power generation in promoting natural gas industry and electricity industry development
　2.2. Challenges of natural gas power generation in China
　　2.2.1. Natural gas “Take-or-pay” contract and dispatching requirement of power system
　　2.2.2. Role of gas units in the power system
　　2.2.3. High gas price and the electricity pricing system in China
　　2.2.4. The gas supply contract and power selling contract are difficult to coordinate for the gas-fired power plants
3. Techno-economic assessment of gas power generation in China
4. Environmental benefits of gas power plants
5. Policy recommendations for gas power generation in China
　5.1. Dispatching policy
　5.2. Electricity price policy
　　a. Implementing peak hour price
　　b. Embedding the environmental value into power price
　5.3. Adopting preferential tax policy and providing discount for gas transportation & distribution fee
　5.4. Signing more flexible gas contract
　5.5. Adopting reasonable classified gas prices for customer groups
6. Conclusions
Acknowledgment
References