Liu Zhenya: Solving resource and environmental problems with global energy internet

China Energy Storage Network News: ——Interview with Liu Zhenya, member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Chairman of the China Electricity Council, and Chairman of the Global Energy Interconnection Development Cooperation Organization

"Looking around the world, the integration of energy, information and transportation networks will become an inevitable trend. To promote the development of the integration of the three networks, we must seize the key and shortcoming of the energy network. The core is to accelerate the construction of the global energy Internet. In the nearly one year since the establishment of the Global Energy Internet Development Cooperation Organization, it has achieved fruitful results in concept dissemination, major issue research, international cooperation, and project implementation. The new pattern of world energy development based on the global energy Internet platform will effectively solve the resource and environmental problems facing the current world development."

On March 4, Liu Zhenya, member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Chairman of the China Electricity Council, and Chairman of the Global Energy Internet Development Cooperation Organization, was interviewed by a reporter from China Electric Power News and gave wonderful answers to questions about global energy transformation and resources and the environment.

Grasping the key and shortcomings of the integrated development of the world's "three networks"

Global Energy Internet is the core

On September 26, 2015, President Xi Jinping proposed at the UN Development Summit to explore the construction of a global energy internet and promote the use of clean and green methods to meet global electricity demand, which was highly praised and actively responded by the international community. As the world economic transformation and pattern reconstruction enter a new stage, the key breakthrough position of the world energy transformation and information technology revolution is becoming increasingly apparent. Based on this, Liu Zhenya proposed the integrated development of the three networks of global energy, information and transportation, that is, taking the world energy transformation and information technology revolution as an opportunity, relying on the interconnection of global infrastructure, giving play to the advantages of network economy and economies of scale, accelerating the formation of a new pattern of integrated development of the three networks of energy, information and transportation, promoting the transformation and upgrading of the world economy, and promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

The key to promoting the integration of three networks lies in the construction of the energy network.

Liu Zhenya introduced that, observing and analyzing the development levels of the global energy network, information network, and transportation network, only the energy network has not yet achieved global interconnection and its development is seriously lagging behind.

The transportation industry has gone through hundreds of years of development and is very mature in finance, technology, talent training, etc. With the networking of air routes, railways, and roads, the global transportation network has taken shape. Although information and communication have only been developed for a few decades, they have developed rapidly, and the information and communication Internet has basically covered the world. Through more than 70 satellites and more than 250 underground cables, the world has become an information-connected global village. The construction of the energy network is still in its infancy. This can be seen from the current scarcity of large multinational power companies and the serious lag in power technology over the past years.

Since the birth of UHV AC and DC technology, the power industry has finally achieved a major technological breakthrough. The transmission distance of 500 kV AC lines was only 500 kilometers, but now the transmission distance of ±1100 kV UHV lines can reach 6,000 to 8,000 kilometers. UHV technology has become the foundation for the construction of the global energy grid.

At present, with electricity as the driving force and data as the link, the energy network, information network, and transportation network are increasingly closely connected in terms of network form, business functions, and resource utilization, showing a development trend of mutual intersection, mutual integration, mutual support, and mutual complementation. The construction of the energy network is becoming increasingly important to the development of the world network economy with the integration of the three networks. It can be seen that the core of the development of the world's three-network integration lies in the global energy Internet.

The development of global energy internet has yielded fruitful results

Technological and strategic developments provide important guarantees for world energy security

The China Initiative on Global Energy Interconnection has been proposed for more than a year. In March this year, the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization will also celebrate its first anniversary. So far, the Global Energy Interconnection has gone from concept proposal to international consensus, and from strategic initiative to strategic implementation.

Liu Zhenya introduced that at the Global Energy Interconnection Development Cooperation Organization's achievement release conference held on February 22 this year, the cooperation organization released three innovative achievements, namely, "Global Energy Interconnection Development Strategy White Paper", "Cross-border and Intercontinental Grid Interconnection Technology and Prospects", and "Global Energy Interconnection Development and Prospects (2017)", which demonstrated the fruitful results achieved in concept dissemination, major issue research, international cooperation, and project implementation since the establishment of the organization.

At the same time, the cooperation organization has carried out surveys and calculations on global clean energy resources, investigated the status of global power grids and backbone grids, and drew the world's first power grid development map in the fourth quarter of last year. It has also conducted in-depth investigations and studies on the power development and economic development of some countries along the "Belt and Road" and formed short-term and long-term development plans. In addition, my country's power talent team is strong and has prominent advantages.

Liu Zhenya said that the series of development achievements of the Global Energy Internet have shocked the world and won wider and deeper recognition. my country has the strength to continuously identify and solve problems in the process of building the Global Energy Internet. The Global Energy Internet will provide important guarantees for world energy security with its high security and stability.

The idea of ​​global energy internet can solve the world's resource and environmental problems

"The global energy internet platform will realize energy configuration dominated by clean energy, which will be an important driving force for my country's energy transformation. For many countries and regions with congenital energy shortages, it will also be an effective means to solve development problems." Liu Zhenya said when talking about world resources and environmental issues.

It is expected that by 2025, the economic efficiency of clean energy will surpass that of fossil energy, and the market will drive a major change in energy consumption choices. By developing and deploying clean energy on a large scale, the Global Energy Internet will solve the coordination problem of development and environment in countries and regions such as Southeast Asia and South Asia where energy resources and environmental load capacity are insufficient.

At present, the world's resource and environmental problems are still prominent. The limited, scarce and unsustainable nature of resources determines that the dependence on fossil energy must be reversed. The environmental problems caused by energy consumption and development and the climate change caused by carbon emissions have attracted great attention. As of now, there are still 1.2 to 1.3 billion people in the world without electricity. "From high carbon to low carbon, from low efficiency to high efficiency, from local balance to large-scale configuration, the development ideas of the global energy Internet will enable these problems to be effectively solved."