Energy Internet Promotes Energy Transformation

——Interview with Li Weijian, deputy to the National People's Congress and researcher of Hunan Electric Power Company

China Electric Power News China Electric Power News Network reporter Guo Tengteng

We must vigorously promote the development of clean energy and use innovation to drive energy transformation and upgrading.

China Electric Power News: What suggestions did you bring to this year’s Two Sessions?

Li Weijian: I brought two suggestions to this year's two sessions. One is "Suggestions on accelerating the construction of a global energy internet and promoting energy transformation and development", and the other is "Suggestions on orderly development of thermal power and accelerating the transformation of energy green development".

China Electric Power News: What suggestions do you have for accelerating the construction of a global energy Internet?

Li Weijian: Based on the current status of my country's energy development, I put forward the "Suggestions on Accelerating the Construction of a Global Energy Internet and Promoting Energy Transformation and Development". First, my country is the world's largest energy and electricity consumer, but its energy resources are relatively scarce. Its energy structure is mainly coal-based, and its external dependence on oil and natural gas has reached 60% and 30% respectively. At present, about 75% of the country's coal-fired power installed capacity (power generation accounts for 76% of the country's total) is concentrated in the eastern and central regions, which greatly exceeds the environmental carrying capacity. Secondly, the coal-fired power installed capacity in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei-Shandong and Yangtze River Delta regions, which are severely smoggy, exceeds 130 million and 150 million kilowatts respectively, accounting for 15% and 17% of the country's total, and the coal-fired power installed capacity per unit area is 13 times and 26 times that of the northwest region respectively. The annual sulfur dioxide emissions in the Yangtze River Delta region reach 45 tons per square kilometer, which is 20 times the national average. Therefore, ensuring safe, clean and sustainable energy development faces huge challenges. We must adhere to the direction of green and low-carbon development, accelerate the development of clean energy such as hydropower, wind power and solar power generation, and accelerate the construction of China's energy Internet based on ultra-high voltage to achieve optimal energy allocation across the country. This can fundamentally transform the energy development mode that relies too much on coal transportation and the local balanced electricity development mode, ensure safe, clean, efficient and sustainable energy supply, and meet the needs of coordinated economic, social and environmental development.

China Electric Power News: What responsibilities should thermal power assume in the transformation to green energy development?

Li Weijian: The reason why I put forward the "Suggestions on Orderly Development of Thermal Power and Accelerating the Transformation of Energy Green Development" is that for a long time, due to the excessive reliance on coal transportation in energy allocation, my country's power development mode has been mainly based on local balance, resulting in duplicate construction and investment waste, repeated tensions in coal, electricity and oil transportation, and increasingly serious greenhouse gas emissions. However, clean development has become the general trend and the will of the people. From the perspective of national power operation, from January to November 2015, the country's new power generation capacity was 90.44 million kilowatts, 23.38 million kilowatts more than the same period last year, of which 47.51 million kilowatts of thermal power was 13.46 million kilowatts more than the same period last year; the average utilization hours of thermal power equipment was only 3,916 hours, a year-on-year decrease of 355 hours, and the decline was 94 hours larger than the same period last year. From the perspective of power investment, from January to November 2015, the investment in thermal power projects reached 98 billion yuan, the highest investment in thermal power in the past five years. From the situation in Hunan, the average utilization hours of Hunan power grid's coordinated thermal power in 2015 was 3,096 hours, far lower than the national average; among them, the average utilization hours of public thermal power of 200,000 kilowatts and above was only 2,882 hours, and the contradiction of "oversupply" of thermal power installed capacity became more prominent. Therefore, it is necessary to further optimize and adjust the structure, promote the harmonious development of clean energy and conventional thermal power, and promote the green development transformation of my country's energy.

China Electric Power News: In response to these two suggestions, what measures have you proposed respectively?

Li Weijian: In the "Suggestions on Accelerating the Construction of a Global Energy Internet and Promoting Energy Transformation and Development", I proposed the following measures: First, vigorously promote the development of clean energy and develop various types of distributed clean energy in an efficient and orderly manner.

Second, innovation will be used to promote energy transformation and upgrading. We will carry out technical research and joint research and development, achieve new breakthroughs in core technologies and key equipment, and actively promote structural adjustment and industrial transformation and upgrading. Third, we will accelerate the construction of the global energy internet. We will incorporate the construction of the global energy internet and the Chinese energy internet into the overall national economic and social development strategy. We will formulate a global energy internet development plan and talent plan at the national level.

The "Suggestions on orderly development of thermal power and accelerating the transformation of energy green development" include: First, strictly control and orderly develop thermal power. Focus on supporting the development of advanced thermal power units with large capacity, high parameters, good energy-saving and environmental protection performance, and gradually shut down and eliminate backward thermal power production capacity with small capacity, low performance, high energy consumption and high pollution. Second, accelerate the construction of China's energy Internet. It is recommended to strengthen unified power planning at the national level and accelerate the construction of ultra-high voltage main grid to meet the needs of large-scale development and consumption of clean energy.