State Grid Corporation of China opens its doors to “make cakes”

China Energy Storage Network: Openness and cooperation have become the keywords of State Grid Corporation of China in the past two years. Beijing Power Trading Center has introduced 10 investors, and the newly added shareholders hold 30% of the shares. This is of great significance for further improving the open, transparent and fully functional power trading platform and promoting the market to play a decisive role in resource allocation.

The marketization of electricity has always been the core content of the reform of the power system. As an important place and platform for market-oriented electricity transactions, the reform of the power trading center has attracted much attention. Recently, the signing ceremony of the capital increase agreement of the Beijing Power Trading Center was held in Beijing, introducing a total of 10 investors, with new shareholders holding 30% of the shares. This is an important measure for the State Grid Corporation to implement the central reform deployment and promote the independent and standardized operation of power trading institutions, marking that the shareholding reform of the Beijing Power Trading Center has completed a "key step".

Providing effective support for marketization

For a long time, the power industry has been a relatively monopolistic industry. In March 2015, the "Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Further Deepening the Reform of the Power System" was issued, marking the beginning of a new round of power system reform in my country, with increasing the proportion of market-based electricity transactions being an important part.

Just like ordinary commodities, buyers and sellers need a trading venue and platform to reach a deal in the electricity market, which can improve transaction efficiency and ensure transaction security. In 2016, under the guidance of the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration, the State Grid Corporation of China established the Beijing Power Trading Center.

The power trading center is mainly responsible for the construction, operation and management of the market trading platform, providing settlement basis and related services, including the registration and corresponding management of market entities, disclosure and release of market information, etc.

Since its establishment, Beijing Power Exchange has done a lot of work in building trading platforms, improving trading mechanisms, serving market players, and promoting the consumption of new energy. It has achieved positive results in improving trading efficiency, expanding trading scale, and reducing users' electricity costs.

Shareholding reform ensures fairness

In the new round of electricity reform, State Grid Corporation of China is the main participant and market competitor, as well as the full owner of the electricity trading platform. It acts as both an "athlete" and a "referee", making it difficult for the market to be convinced of its fairness.

The diversity of shareholders can make the trading center more neutral in the future, or consider the interests of more participants when formulating trading rules. In September 2018, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration issued the "Notice on Promoting the Standardization of Power Trading Institutions", which clearly stated that power trading institutions should reflect multi-party representation, shareholders should come from various trading entities, and the capital share ratio of non-grid enterprises should not be less than 20%. It is encouraged to improve the equity structure in accordance with the capital share ratio of non-grid enterprises of about 50%.

The share reform of Beijing Power Exchange is aimed at solving the problem of "independence". The reporter learned that the capital increase project completed the disclosure of capital increase information and solicitation of potential investors at Beijing Equity Exchange on October 25, 2019, and finally determined 10 investors. The 10 shareholder units are all from comprehensive energy and power groups with strong strength and excellent performance, including China Huaneng Group Co., Ltd., China Datang Group Co., Ltd., China Huadian Group Co., Ltd., China Three Gorges Corporation, etc.

Xin Baoan, general manager of State Grid Corporation of China, said that State Grid Corporation is willing to take the equity reform of trading institutions as an opportunity to further strengthen mutual trust and cooperation with shareholders to achieve win-win results in optimizing the governance structure of power trading institutions and creating a fair and competitive power market environment.

Mixed ownership reform is in full bloom

In fact, openness and cooperation have become the keywords of the reform of State Grid Corporation of China in the past two years. On December 25, 2018, State Grid Corporation of China held a press conference in Beijing and announced ten measures for openness and cooperation, introducing social capital in 10 fields. Since then, State Grid Corporation of China has accelerated the reform of mixed ownership, actively attracted social investment in the fields of UHV DC transmission, incremental power distribution, integrated energy services, pumped storage, general aviation, finance, etc., and amplified the functions of state-owned capital.

On November 20, 2019, the State Grid Corporation of China held a special promotion meeting for the introduction of social capital at the Shanghai United Property Exchange, focusing on promoting 12 key mixed-ownership reform projects. "More than 50 investors came to me for consultation. Social capital has paid too much attention to us." Shen Jianxin, general manager of State Grid Electric Vehicle Service Co., Ltd., said that it was very difficult to get charging piles into the community. After cooperating with Evergrande Group, Evergrande and other developers immediately took out more than 5,000 communities for cooperation. Through mixed-ownership reform, the industrial chain has been opened up and the new energy vehicle ecosystem has been formed. Open cooperation has achieved a "win-win" situation.

At present, the State Grid Corporation has made progress to varying degrees in the ten major areas of open cooperation. According to Yang Xinfa, director of the State Grid Corporation's System Reform Office, in the field of ultra-high voltage direct current, a strategic cooperation agreement has been signed with PICC Group and an investment intention agreement has been signed with PICC Asset Management. In the field of incremental power distribution, the company's holding projects have basically completed the establishment of project companies and started construction. In the field of pumped storage, the investors of the Anhui Tongcheng Pumped Storage Power Station project have reached an investment agreement.

Yang Xinfa said that in the next step, State Grid Corporation of China will actively and steadily promote mixed-ownership reform on a larger scale, at a higher level, with greater strength and at a faster pace, use the "mixing" of capital to promote the "reform" of the mechanism, strive to create a number of reform models, and further enhance the competitiveness, innovation, control, influence and risk resistance of the state-owned economy.