Accelerate the formation of a new pattern of clean energy consumption promoted by sources, grids and loads

Accelerate the formation of a new pattern of clean energy consumption promoted by sources, grids and loads

——Interview with Du Zhongming, Party Secretary and President of China Electric Power Planning and Design Institute

Our reporter Zheng Xuguang

(Energy Intelligence Research Center)

"In 2019, the country basically achieved the 2020 clean energy consumption target set out in the Clean Energy Consumption Action Plan (2018-2020) ahead of schedule. However, clean energy consumption is a continuous and dynamic process, especially during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, new energy will continue to develop on a large scale, and the scale of grid connection is likely to double from the current scale, which will bring huge challenges to the construction and operation of the power system. With the withdrawal of national fiscal subsidies, new energy will enter a new stage dominated by promoting consumption and utilization. Clean energy consumption requires continuous efforts on the power supply side, the grid side, and the load side to achieve breakthroughs in the system and mechanism." Du Zhongming, Secretary of the Party Committee and President of the State Grid Planning and Design Institute, made such a judgment in an exclusive interview with reporters recently.

Achieve the 2020 target of the Three-Year Action Plan for Clean Energy Consumption ahead of schedule

Reporter: What do you think about the situation of clean energy consumption in my country in recent years? Can the country successfully achieve the goals of the "Clean Energy Consumption Action Plan (2018-2020)" this year?

Du Zhongming: In accordance with the deployment requirements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, and with the joint efforts of government departments, enterprises and other parties, my country's clean energy consumption has continued to improve since the 13th Five-Year Plan. In 2019, my country's hydropower utilization rate reached about 97%, and the average utilization rates of wind power and photovoltaic power generation increased from 83% and 90% in 2016 to 96% and 98% in 2019, respectively. The problem of hydropower consumption in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces has also been significantly alleviated. At present, only Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Xinjiang and other regions still have local and periodic consumption difficulties. Overall, the country reached the 2020 consumption target set in the "Clean Energy Consumption Action Plan (2018-2020)" in 2019 ahead of schedule.

With the steady growth of electricity load in the whole society, the continuous advancement of the construction of power system regulation capacity, the continued improvement of cross-provincial and cross-regional power resource allocation capabilities, and the accelerated pace of market-oriented reforms, it is expected that the positive trend in clean energy consumption will continue in 2020.

Technology and policy mechanisms work together to help new energy consumption

Reporter: What are the main reasons for the improvement in my country's clean energy consumption situation?

Du Zhongming: There are several main reasons for the improvement in the situation of hydropower consumption: First, the electricity consumption in Yunnan and Sichuan has rebounded, and the hydropower consumption capacity of the province has been significantly improved. Second, the construction of transmission channels in Yunnan and Sichuan has made positive progress. A number of hydropower transmission projects such as the Northwest Yunnan DC and the Sichuan-Chongqing Third Channel have been completed and put into operation, which has promoted the transmission and consumption of hydropower. In addition, the strict control of small hydropower policies has also objectively played a certain role in alleviating the contradiction of hydropower consumption.

Since the 13th Five-Year Plan, efforts to promote the consumption of new energy have been mainly made from two aspects: technology and policy mechanisms. On the technical level, first, the development layout has been optimized, with the focus on centralized development in the "Three Norths" shifting to a focus on both centralized and decentralized development, and the development layout has continued to shift to the central, eastern and southern regions with stronger consumption capacity. Second, the power grid has increased its efforts to consume new energy, and through optimizing the dispatching and operation of the power grid, it has increased the mutual assistance between provincial power grids and achieved optimal allocation of resources within the regional power grid. Third, the flexible adjustment capacity of the power system has been improved, especially the flexibility transformation of thermal power in the "Three Norths", which has created favorable conditions for the consumption of new energy. Fourth, with the help of power transmission channels, a wider range of new energy consumption has been promoted, which has made an important contribution to solving the problem of abandoned wind and solar power.

At the policy and mechanism level, first, the government has stepped up its guidance on the layout and consumption capacity of new energy construction. A national new energy power consumption monitoring and early warning platform has been built, and a wind power and photovoltaic power generation investment monitoring and early warning mechanism has been established, which generally ensures the orderly advancement of new energy construction. The National Energy Administration's "Interim Management Measures for the Development and Construction of Distributed Wind Power Projects" and other policies have also effectively guided new energy investment to areas with sufficient consumption space. Second, the construction of the auxiliary service market has been promoted. The peak-shaving auxiliary service market in Northeast China has gained good experience and has been promoted to North China, Northwest China and other regions.

The situation of new energy consumption in the "14th Five-Year Plan" is not optimistic

Reporter: What are the key issues or challenges in clean energy consumption?

Du Zhongming: In the near term, the problem of clean energy consumption in some areas and at some times still needs attention. In 2020, the problem of new energy consumption in Xinjiang and Gansu still needs to be focused on. Due to the slowdown in load growth and limited power grid transmission in Qinghai Province, the scale of new energy installed in 2019 was large, and the rate of abandoned light showed an upward trend. At the same time, some measures of the state to promote the consumption of clean energy have not been fully implemented. For example, the transformation of the regulation capacity of the power system has lagged behind. According to the goals of the 13th Five-Year Plan, the scale of flexibility transformation of thermal power in the country is 220 million kilowatts and the scale of pumped storage construction is 60 million kilowatts, which is far from reaching this goal. The "Report on the Inspection of the Implementation of the Renewable Energy Law of the People's Republic of China" by the Law Enforcement Inspection Group of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress was announced, and many institutional implementation issues raised therein need attention.

In the medium and long term, promoting the consumption of clean energy is a process that requires continuous dynamic attention and long-term governance. In the future, the power system needs to take a variety of measures to adapt to the requirements of large-scale development of new energy, otherwise there will still be the risk of difficulties in absorbing new energy. We judge that the "14th Five-Year Plan" period is a critical period for the green transformation and development of my country's energy, and the development potential of new energy is huge. We expect that by 2025, the total installed capacity of wind power and photovoltaic power generation will reach about 750 million to 800 million kilowatts. The potential for inter-provincial adjustment of power grids is not large, and there are still shortcomings in the construction of system peak-shaving capabilities. The systems and mechanisms such as the power auxiliary service market and the power spot market are not yet mature. If these problems are not effectively solved, the pressure on the consumption of new energy in the "14th Five-Year Plan" will continue to increase.

Mobilize the user side to form a new pattern of source, grid and load promoting consumption

Reporter: What measures can be taken in the future to continuously promote the consumption of clean energy?

Du Zhongming: During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the development of new energy will shift from the past subsidy-driven and "land grabbing" model to a new model oriented towards consumption and achieving grid parity, which also means that the development of new energy has entered a new stage. The working ideas and policy mechanisms for promoting the consumption of new energy should also be adjusted. The suggestions are as follows:

In terms of new energy development, first, we should continue to pay attention to optimizing the layout. The "Three Norths" region has good resource endowment and still has great development potential. At the same time, we should continue to increase the development and utilization of decentralized and distributed new energy in the central, eastern and southern regions. Second, we should adopt a large-scale development method for new energy bases to change the past small and scattered development pattern, so as to achieve intensive and efficient development of new energy. Third, we should study the integrated development model of wind, light and storage, enhance the friendliness of new energy to the power system, and solve the volatility and intermittent problems of new energy output to a certain extent. Fourth, we should develop offshore wind power in an orderly manner. Coastal provinces should attach great importance to the problem of grid connection and absorption, and coordinate and optimize the utilization of offshore wind power transmission channel resources.