Demonstrating the core hub role of the energy system and taking on the important task of "ballast stone" for power supply

China Energy Storage Network: In 2021, the logic of energy transformation is clearer, the roadmap for carbon reduction targets is becoming more complete, and local electricity supply and demand tensions are unexpected... In the coexistence of opportunities and challenges, and the interweaving of certainty and uncertainty, the industry fully plays the role of the power grid as a hub and platform in the energy system, leading the green and low-carbon transformation of energy and promoting the construction of a new power system. At the end of the year and the beginning of the next year, let us review the "major events" of the power grid industry in the past year and discover the "general trend" of the industry's development.

(Text丨Reporters Sunan and Han Yifei)

Power grid companies win the tough battle to ensure supply

In 2021, power grid companies shouldered the heavy responsibility of ensuring electricity supply and won one tough battle after another.

At the beginning of the year, we had to deal with the "La Nina" climate phenomenon; in the middle of the year, we faced the test of "peak summer"; in early autumn, we ushered in a new round of power supply guarantee battles; at the end of the year, we faced the test of "peak winter". A series of pressures made power grid companies tighten the string of power supply throughout the year. In the face of difficulties and obstacles, power grid companies ensured the safe and reliable supply of electricity, demonstrating the responsibility of central enterprises as "the backbone and able to withstand the pressure".

During the cold wave heating season at the beginning of 2021, the maximum power load of 22 provincial power grids achieved double-digit growth. Among them, the maximum power load of nine provincial power grids, including Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui, and Sichuan, increased by more than 20%. The heating load of power grids in many provinces, including Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui, and Jiangxi, doubled.

In September and October, the power supply and demand situation continued to be tense. 17 provinces in the State Grid's operating area implemented orderly power consumption, and the three northeastern provinces partially cut off power during peak power consumption periods, with the impact far exceeding the extreme cold weather at the beginning of the year and the peak load period in summer. The national power supply and demand situation showed a change from "tight supply in some areas and some periods" to "overall tension in the whole network in multiple periods". How to hold on to the safety lifeline of the power grid, fully tap the potential of power generation and supply capacity, increase cross-provincial resource dispatch, and give play to the advantages of optimized configuration of large power grids has become a must-answer question for power grid companies.

"Everything must be accomplished by doing it". Under heavy pressure, power grid companies shoulder the responsibility of ensuring power supply. They carefully organize, closely cooperate, and refine tasks. While guarding the safety lifeline of the power grid, they fully tap the power generation and supply capacity, strengthen demand-side management, and promote the construction of new power systems. For example, in order to "reduce the pressure" of the power grid, in the summer of 2021, the State Grid initiated more than 3.2 million demand-side response service invitations online alone, effectively awakening the "sleeping" load. By implementing demand-side response, residents and enterprises use electricity in staggered periods, which effectively reduces the power demand during peak hours and improves the stability and efficiency of power grid operation.

Ensuring a safe and stable power supply is not only an economic issue, but also a livelihood issue related to the well-being of the people. Based on my country's energy resource endowment, we will promote the diversified development of both supply and demand, and power grid companies will actively play the role of power system hubs to promote my country to embark on a path of energy and power security supply that suits national conditions.

At present, in addition to guiding the peak-shaving auxiliary service market and the peak-shaving capacity market through market means and accelerating the deep peak-shaving transformation of thermal power units, power grid companies are also working hard to strengthen load forecasting and new energy management, and scientifically arrange power grid dispatching and operation methods to lay a solid foundation for ensuring safe and stable power supply.

In the future, as economic operations gradually improve, energy low-carbon transformation accelerates, new energy installations and new energy vehicles expand in scale, and electric energy substitution continues to deepen, power grid companies will face more complex pressures to balance power supply and demand. Therefore, it is necessary to accelerate the construction of a new power system with new energy as the main body, accelerate the construction of a strong smart grid, and achieve multi-energy complementary and integrated development. Only in this way can power grid companies better play the role of "stabilizer" and "ballast stone" of energy and power supply.

The construction of a new power system officially begins

In the past year of 2021, the most frequently mentioned keyword in the power grid industry was building a new power system with new energy as the main body.

The ninth meeting of the Central Financial and Economic Commission held on March 15, 2021 proposed that we should build a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient energy system, control the total amount of fossil energy, focus on improving utilization efficiency, implement renewable energy substitution actions, deepen power system reform, and build a new power system with new energy as the main body.

At present, most of the power systems in operation in my country are built and developed in accordance with the traditional concept of "source follows load". To build a new power system with new energy as the main body, it is necessary to adapt to the intermittent and volatile nature of renewable energy such as wind power and photovoltaics. This requires the power grid to have the ability of "load follows source" or "source-load interaction".

Understand the current situation from the long-term trend, judge future trends from the trend of energy development, and find development opportunities from complex situations. Building a new power system is the top-level design of the energy industry towards the goals of carbon peak and carbon neutrality, and it is also a key move related to the transformation of my country's energy structure.

In general, to build a new power system for the future, it is necessary to organically integrate the power supply, power grid, load, and energy storage, and make comprehensive efforts in various fields such as production, transmission, and use to form a multi-dimensional and coordinated smart power ecosystem that integrates the characteristics of "source, grid, load, storage, and intelligence".

It can be foreseen that the new power system is bound to be a system of large-scale integration and co-development. Distributed energy systems and microgrid systems will be vigorously developed, and ultimately achieve deep integration with large power grids and complementary advantages. The new power system is also bound to be an open intelligent system. Focusing on the main theme of digitalization and intelligentization of power systems, it will continue to give birth to new industries and new models, allowing all users to participate in the co-construction and sharing of industrial chains and value chains.

We must also realize that building a new power system is a long-term systematic project, and the existing power structure, development model, and interest structure are all facing revolutionary changes. At the same time, the evolution of the power system will also comprehensively promote innovation in power technology, industry, and business models, and give birth to new growth points for industrial upgrading.

The power grid is a basic platform facility that connects electricity production and consumption, and is the central link of the power system. The various changes brought about by the new power system will further highlight the platform role of the power grid and put forward new requirements for the physical form and technical characteristics of the future power grid.

The clarion call for transformation has been sounded. In the critical period and window period for my country to achieve the goals of carbon peak and carbon neutrality in the "14th Five-Year Plan", facing new situations and new challenges, power grid companies need to take the initiative to seek change, break through industry constraints, and continuously move towards a stage of high-quality development, becoming the leader, promoter and forerunner in building a new power system.

Digital transformation is gaining momentum

Looking back at 2021, in the development process of my country's power grid industry, "digitalization" has become the best footnote to the industrial transformation.

Digitalization is an inevitable choice to adapt to the trend of integration and advancement of the energy revolution and the digital revolution. With the deep integration and widespread application of modern information technology and energy technology such as "big cloud, Internet of Things, mobile and intelligence", the digital and intelligent characteristics of energy transformation are further highlighted. Whether it is to adapt to the large-scale and high-proportion grid connection and consumption requirements of new energy, or to support the widespread access of interactive and mobile facilities such as distributed energy, energy storage, and electric vehicles, it is necessary to empower the power grid with digital technology.