The National Energy Administration held a press conference to release the energy situation and grid-connected operation of renewable energy in the first three quarters, interpret the “Guiding Opinions on Vigorously Implementing Renewable Energy Substitution Actions”, introduce the development of new energy storage and the third “Belt and Road” Energy Ministers’ Meeting, and answer questions from reporters. The picture shows the scene of the press conference.
Transcript of the press conference
Zhang Xing, Deputy Director General and Spokesperson of the Comprehensive Department
Fellow journalists, good morning! Welcome to the regular press conference of the National Energy Administration. Today’s press conference will routinely release the energy situation in the first three quarters and the grid-connected operation of renewable energy, interpret the “Guiding Opinions on Vigorously Implementing Renewable Energy Substitution Actions”, introduce the development of new energy storage and the third “Belt and Road” Energy Ministers’ Meeting, and answer questions from reporters.
Present at today’s press conference were Mr. Dong Wancheng, Deputy Director General of the Department of Development Planning, Mr. Bian Guangqi, Deputy Director of the Department of Energy Conservation and Scientific and Technological Equipment, and Mr. Dong Xiang, Deputy Director of the Department of International Cooperation. I am Zhang Xing, Deputy Director General and Spokesperson of the General Affairs Department. After the directors release the content, they will be arranged to answer questions from reporters. Now, please ask Deputy Director Dong Wancheng to release the energy situation in the first three quarters.
Dong Wancheng, Deputy Director of the Department of Development and Planning
Fellow journalists, good morning. Next, I will give a brief introduction to the national energy situation in the first three quarters. Since the beginning of this year, the energy industry has adhered to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, fully implemented the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the 2nd and 3rd Plenary Sessions of the 20th Central Committee, thoroughly implemented the deployment of the Central Economic Work Conference and the Government Work Report, and always took ensuring national energy security as the primary task, and made greater efforts to promote green and low-carbon energy transformation and high-quality development, so as to provide safe and reliable energy guarantee for Chinese-style modernization. In the first three quarters, we continued to enhance our energy security capabilities, vigorously promoted the green and low-carbon transformation of energy, relied on scientific and technological innovation to enhance new momentum for development, relied on deepening reform to stimulate new vitality for development, and made new progress in the construction of a new energy system, providing strong support for high-quality economic development.
It mainly presents the following five characteristics:
First, the foundation of supply security has been further consolidated. As of the end of September, the country’s total installed power generation capacity reached 3.16 billion kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 14.1%. In the first nine months, crude oil and natural gas production increased by 2.0% and 6.6% year-on-year.
Second, the peak supply guarantee of peak energy consumption in summer is strong and effective. During the peak period of energy consumption in summer, optimize the scheduling arrangement of the power system, maximize the utilization rate of power transmission channels, increase the supply of natural gas to gas-fired power plants, dig deep into the potential of cross-provincial and cross-regional surplus and shortage, give full play to the role of various power sources in ensuring peak supply, and take multiple measures to promote the synergy of supply and demand, so as to effectively ensure the high-level operation of the national power system.
Third, energy prices remained stable overall. Coordinate domestic and foreign resources and markets, do a solid job in stable coal production and supply, always maintain sufficient domestic coal supply capacity, effectively play the role of thermal coal long-term price stabilizer, and ensure the basic stability of national coal prices; Spot coal prices operate stably within a reasonable range. Since the beginning of this year, the supply and demand in the international oil market have been loose, and domestic natural gas prices have fluctuated slightly.
Fourth, new breakthroughs have been made in green and low-carbon transformation. As of the end of July, the installed capacity of wind power and solar power generation in China reached 1.206 billion kilowatts, completing the goal of “China’s total installed capacity of wind power and solar power generation reaching more than 1.2 billion kilowatts by 2030” promised by China at the climate ambition conference more than six years ahead of schedule. As of the end of September, wind and solar power accounted for more than 80% of the total new power generation capacity. Unit 1 of the large-scale advanced pressurized water reactor “Guohe No. 1” nuclear power demonstration project with independent intellectual property rights has successfully achieved the first grid-connected power generation.
Fifth, new momentum and new vitality continue to increase. Promote the dual construction of the energy sector, implement large-scale equipment renewal in key energy areas, and focus on promoting the “three reforms” of coal-fired power units, power transmission and distribution, renewable energy, clean heating and other fields of equipment renewal and technological transformation. In the first eight months, the investment in key energy projects was about 1.7 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.2%, and the investment in hydrogen energy, new energy storage, LNG receiving stations, and pumped storage increased rapidly.
Zhang Xing
Thank you, Deputy Director General Dong Wancheng. Let me introduce the grid-connected operation of renewable energy in the first three quarters and interpret the “Guiding Opinions on Vigorously Implementing Renewable Energy Substitution Actions”.
In the first three quarters of 2024, the National Energy Administration (NEA) will thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the 2nd and 3rd Plenary Sessions of the 20th CPC Central Committee, coordinate energy security and low-carbon development, accelerate the planning and construction of a new energy system, steadily promote the green and low-carbon transformation of energy, and make every effort to promote the development of renewable energy to a new level. New breakthroughs have been made in the installed capacity of renewable energy. In the first three quarters of 2024, 210 million kilowatts of new renewable power generation capacity was added across the country, a year-on-year increase of 21%, accounting for 86% of the new installed electricity capacity. Among them, hydropower increased by 7.97 million kilowatts, wind power increased by 39.12 million kilowatts, solar power generation increased by 161 million kilowatts, biomass power generation increased by 1.37 million kilowatts, and wind power and solar power generation totaled more than 200 million kilowatts. As of the end of September 2024, the country’s installed renewable energy capacity reached 1.73 billion kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 25%, accounting for about 54.7% of China’s total installed capacity, of which 430 million kilowatts were installed in hydropower, 480 million kilowatts in wind power, 770 million kilowatts in solar power generation, and 46 million kilowatts in biomass power generation. Renewable energy generation has been steadily increasing. In the first three quarters of 2024, the country’s renewable energy generation capacity reached 2.51 trillion kWh, an increase of 20.9% year-on-year, accounting for about 35.5% of the total power generation; Among them, the total power generation of wind and solar power reached 1,349 billion kWh, a year-on-year increase of 26.3%, which was basically the same as the electricity consumption of the tertiary industry (1,395.3 billion kWh) in the same period, and exceeded the domestic electricity consumption of urban and rural residents (1,172.1 billion kWh) in the same period.
(1) Hydropower construction and operation. In the first three quarters of 2024, 7.97 million kilowatts of new hydropower grid-connected capacity will be added across the country, including 2.99 million kilowatts of conventional hydropower and 4.98 million kilowatts of pumped storage. By the end of September 2024, the cumulative installed capacity of hydropower in the country reached 430 million kilowatts, including 375 million kilowatts of conventional hydropower and 55.91 million kilowatts of pumped storage. In the first three quarters of 2024, the country’s hydropower generation capacity above designated size was 1,004 billion kWh, a year-on-year increase of 16%; The average utilization hours of hydropower in the country were 2,672 hours, an increase of 305 hours year-on-year.
(2) Wind power construction and operation。 In the first three quarters of 2024, 39.12 million kilowatts of new grid-connected wind power capacity was added across the country, a year-on-year increase of 16.8%, including 36.65 million kilowatts of onshore wind power and 2.47 million kilowatts of offshore wind power. By the end of September 2024, the cumulative grid-connected capacity of wind power in China reached 480 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 19.8%, including 440 million kilowatts of onshore wind power and 39.1 million kilowatts of offshore wind power. In the first three quarters of 2024, the country’s wind power generation capacity will be 712.2 billion kWh, a year-on-year increase of 13%; The average utilization rate of wind power in China was 96.2%, down 0.8 percentage points year-on-year.
(3) Construction and operation of photovoltaic power generation. In the first three quarters of 2024, 161 million kilowatts of new PV were connected to the grid across the country, a year-on-year increase of 24.8%, of which 75.66 million kW were centralized PV and 85.22 million kW were distributed PV. As of the end of September 2024, the installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation in China reached 770 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 48.4%, of which 430 million kilowatts were centralized photovoltaics and 340 million kilowatts were distributed photovoltaics. In the first three quarters of 2024, the country’s photovoltaic power generation capacity was 635.9 billion kWh, a year-on-year increase of 45.5%; The national photovoltaic power generation utilization rate was 97.2%, a year-on-year decrease of 1.1 percentage points.
(4) Construction and operation of biomass power generation. In the first three quarters of 2024, 1.37 million kilowatts of new biomass power generation capacity will be added across the country. As of the end of September 2024, the cumulative installed capacity of biomass power generation in China reached 45.51 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%. In the first three quarters of 2024, biomass power generation was 153.8 billion kWh, a year-on-year increase of 4.3%.
The above is the operation of renewable energy grid integration in the first three quarters of 2024, and I will briefly introduce the key tasks of the “Guiding Opinions on Vigorously Implementing Renewable Energy Substitution Actions”. The “Opinions” focus on the planning and construction of a new energy system and the promotion of high-quality development of new energy with greater efforts, focusing on the safe and reliable supply of renewable energy, the steady and orderly replacement of traditional energy, and the acceleration of renewable energy substitution applications in key areas such as industry, transportation, construction, agriculture and rural areas. Key tasks are put forward in three aspects: improving the safe and reliable substitution capacity of renewable energy, alternative applications in key areas, and alternative innovation pilots.
First, efforts should be made to improve the ability to safely and reliably replace renewable energy. The “Opinions” proposes to comprehensively improve the supply capacity of renewable energy, accelerate the construction of large-scale bases and the development and utilization of distributed nearby, promote the application of grid-based technology, and develop green fuels, renewable energy hydrogen production and comprehensive heating systems. In terms of promoting the large-scale transmission and consumption and utilization of renewable energy, the “Opinions” propose to accelerate the construction of supporting infrastructure, promote the coordinated development of grid sources, optimize power dispatching and control, and strengthen the construction and upgrading of infrastructure such as heat and gas pipeline networks and hydrogen energy supply networks. In terms of strengthening the interaction between supply and demand, the “Opinions” propose to dig deeper into the potential of demand-side resource regulation and control, and strengthen the power demand-side management in key areas such as industry, construction, and transportation. In terms of the development of flexible resources, the “Opinions” proposes to improve the regulation capacity of the power system in a diversified manner, strengthen the application of flexible power supply, pumped storage and new energy storage, and promote long-term heat storage power generation, thermoelectric coupling, and medium and high temperature heat utilization.
The second is to accelerate the substitution of renewable energy in key areas. In the industrial field, the “Opinions” propose to promote the green and low-carbon transformation of industrial energy consumption, guide the orderly transfer of industry to areas rich in renewable energy and can carry resources and environment, strengthen the coupling development of industrial industry and renewable energy, promote the construction and application of industrial green microgrids, promote the use of medium and low-temperature heat of renewable energy, and explore the construction of wind, solar, hydroammonia, and alcohol integration bases. In the field of transportation, the “Opinions” propose to accelerate the integration and interaction of transportation and renewable energy, build renewable energy transportation corridors, promote the construction of multi-functional integrated stations for optical storage, charging and discharging, explore the development of electrified highways, encourage the application of electric ships and aircraft, and promote the application of sustainable aviation fuel and vehicle fuel. In the field of construction, the “Opinions” proposes to deepen the integrated application of renewable energy in buildings, give priority to the use of renewable energy into the planning, construction, renewal and transformation of cities and towns, promote the installation of photovoltaic systems in existing buildings and conditional new factories and new public buildings, promote the comprehensive electrification of new public buildings, and promote renewable energy heating and cooling according to local conditions. In order to promote renewable energy to help rural revitalization and green development, the “Opinions” propose to comprehensively support the clean and modern use of agricultural and rural energy, actively develop distributed wind power and distributed photovoltaic power generation, accelerate the transformation and upgrading of rural energy infrastructure, and promote renewable energy heating to replace coal burning according to local conditions. In order to promote the application of renewable energy in emerging fields such as data, the “Opinions” propose to coordinate the development and utilization of new infrastructure and renewable energy, promote the integrated development of 5G base stations, data centers, supercomputing centers, photovoltaics, heat pumps, energy storage, etc., support the development of new infrastructure green power direct supply, source-grid-load-storage integration projects, increase the proportion of new energy electricity consumption in strategic projects such as “Eastern Data and Western Computing”, and orderly carry out the green technology transformation of old base stations and “old and scattered” data centers. Promote the steady increase in the proportion of renewable energy use in new data centers year by year.
The third is to actively promote the pilot of renewable energy substitution innovation. In view of new technologies, the “Opinions” propose to accelerate the pilot application, carry out pilot projects such as deep-sea floating offshore wind power, green direct power supply, hydrogen metallurgy and hydrogen-based chemical technology applications, and support parks, enterprises, and large public buildings to carry out pilot projects with a high proportion of new energy generation and supply. In view of the new business format, the “Opinions” proposes to promote the integration and innovation of business formats, promote the cross-industry integration of industry, transportation, construction, agriculture, forestry and renewable energy, support the development and growth of new business entities such as digital energy, virtual power plants, and rural energy cooperatives, and encourage and promote the business model innovation of renewable energy with multiple varieties, fields and forms of substitution. Published. Please ask Deputy Director Bian Guangqi to introduce the development of new energy storage.
Bian Guangqi, deputy director of the Department of Energy Conservation and Scientific and Technological Equipment
During the peak summer this year, there were continuous high temperatures in many places across the country, and the load of 20 provincial power grids hit a record high.
1. The installed capacity of new energy storage in the country has increased steadily, and key provinces have accelerated the construction of new energy storage With the in-depth promotion of the “dual carbon” goal, China’s installed capacity of new energy power generation has maintained a rapid growth rate, and the demand for regulating resources such as new energy storage in the power system has increased rapidly. As of the end of September 2024, 58.52 million kW/128 million kWh of new energy storage has been completed and put into operation across the country, an increase of about 86% from the end of 2023. The National Energy Administration continues to guide the development of new energy storage in accordance with local conditions, and from a regional perspective, the installed capacity of new energy storage in East China has grown rapidly, with more than 9 million kilowatts of new energy storage capacity added this year. From the perspective of provinces, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Xinjiang have rapidly increased their installed capacity, with new installed capacity of about 500, 300, and 3 million kilowatts respectively this year, becoming an important part of the stable operation of the power system.
2. New energy storage call methods continue to improve, and the utilization level is gradually improved Since the issuance of the “Notice on Promoting the Grid Connection and Dispatching and Application of New Energy Storage”, the National Energy Administration has promoted power grid enterprises to improve dispatching procedures and promote the steady improvement of the level of new energy storage call. According to the statistics of power grid enterprises, from January to August 2024, the cumulative charging and discharging capacity of new energy storage in China will be about 26 billion kWh, and the equivalent utilization hours will be about 620 hours. Among them, the cumulative charging and discharging capacity of new energy storage in the business area of the State Grid Corporation is about 22 billion kilowatt hours, the cumulative charging and discharging capacity of new energy storage in the business area of China Southern Power Grid Corporation is about 3 billion kilowatt hours, and the cumulative charging and discharging capacity of new energy storage in the business area of Inner Mongolia Electric Power Company is about 1 billion kilowatt hours.
3. Strengthen the scientific use of new energy storage to strongly support the peak summer During the peak summer from June to August this year, the cumulative charging and discharging capacity of new energy storage in the country was 11.8 billion kilowatt hours, accounting for about 45% of the charging and discharging capacity from January to August this year, effectively supporting the stable operation and reliable supply of the power system. In July, the National Electric Power Dispatching and Control Center carried out a new energy storage centralized call test, and the actual adjustable maximum power of the new energy storage in the State Grid business area was 30.15 million kilowatts, accounting for 92% of the grid-connected new energy storage scale at that time. In Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Inner Mongolia and other provinces (regions) where the balance is relatively tight, the maximum peak simultaneous rate of new energy storage has reached more than 90%, and the actual peak capacity has reached the highest level of early verification, greatly improving the power supply guarantee capacity. Chongqing’s new energy storage provides a peak capacity of 1.4 million kilowatts and can discharge 2.8 million kilowatt hours in a single discharge. A number of independent energy storage power stations in Guangdong Province respond to the requirements of power grid dispatching with high frequency of two charges and two discharges per day, effectively consolidating the province’s power guarantee capacity.
In the next step, the National Energy Administration will continue to improve the policy system for the development of new energy storage, guide the scientific allocation and reasonable deployment of new energy storage, promote the effectiveness of new energy storage in more scenarios, and support the construction of new energy systems and new power systems.
Zhang Xing
Thank you, Deputy Director Bian Guangqi. I would like to invite Deputy Secretary General Dong Xiang to introduce the relevant information of the 3rd Belt and Road Energy Ministers’ Meeting.
Dong Xiang, Deputy Director-General of the Department of International Cooperation
Hello journalists! I would now like to update you on the convening of the Third Belt and Road Energy Ministers’ Meeting.
This year marks the first year of President Xi Jinping’s announcement at the 3rd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation to support the eight high-quality Belt and Road initiatives. In order to implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speech, the National Energy Administration, together with the Shandong Provincial People’s Government, successfully held the third “Belt and Road” Energy Ministers’ Meeting in Qingdao, Shandong Province from October 23 to 24 this year. As a ministerial-level dialogue mechanism under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, the theme of this conference is “Towards the New and Win-Win Cooperation”, and the guests at the meeting carried out in-depth exchanges on energy innovation and green cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, reached a broad consensus, and achieved fruitful results, which are embodied in four “new”.
First, it is necessary to closely integrate with the new situation. Combined with the current new trend of green and innovative energy development, this conference set up two parallel theme forums: “Giving full play to the efficiency of innovative technologies and improving energy security capabilities” and “Adapting to the green development situation and strengthening energy policy innovation and institutional innovation”. The guests at the meeting conducted in-depth exchanges on important topics such as energy transition and energy security, the development trend and application of new energy technologies, promoting the use of green electricity and green certificates and international mutual recognition, and maintaining the stability and smoothness of the energy industry chain and supply chain.
Second, we need to make a number of new breakthroughs. The conference set up 2 parallel thematic forums and 6 sub-forums, with a total of nearly 2,000 participants. The meeting was attended by 33 foreign energy ministers and ambassadors to China, 4 heads of international organizations, and representatives of 142 energy companies, universities, think tanks and industry associations. The number of participants and the number of high-level foreign delegates were the highest in the previous sessions.
Third, a series of new achievements have been achieved. First, the “Belt and Road” energy partnership mechanism was expanded again, Thailand and Iran officially joined, and the expansion ceremony was held at this meeting, the number of member countries increased to 34, and the “circle of friends” of the partnership was further expanded. Second, the Secretariat Office of the Belt and Road Energy Partnership has been established to further improve the partnership mechanism. The third is to initiate the establishment of the “Belt and Road” energy partnership cooperation network think tank working group, the “Belt and Road” energy cooperation is expected to obtain stronger intellectual support. Fourth, the Belt and Road Green Energy Cooperation Action Plan (2024-2029) was released, which further clarified the action path of green energy cooperation along the Belt and Road. Fifth, 19 “Small but Beautiful” best practices and think tank reports on international energy cooperation have been released, further enhancing the leading role of energy cooperation.
Fourth, we need to promote new and pragmatic cooperation. During the meeting, the National Energy Administration held bilateral talks with the energy departments and international organizations of many countries, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Energy of Iran on cooperation in the field of renewable energy, and conducted in-depth exchanges between representatives of participating governments and enterprises during the meeting, promoting practical new cooperation in the energy field between China and partners of the Belt and Road Initiative.
In the next step, the National Energy Administration will continue to implement the new strategy of energy security on the basis of the achievements of the ministerial meeting, promote the “Belt and Road” Green Energy Cooperation Action Plan (2024-2029) under the guidance of the Belt and Road Initiative, actively build a new win-win model of green and low-carbon energy transformation, and promote the establishment of a fair, just, balanced and inclusive global energy governance system. Thank you!
Zhang Xing
Thank you, Deputy Director Dong Xiang. Now I would like to ask questions about the content of today’s press conference, and please report to the news organization you represent when you ask questions.
Daily Economic News reporter
We note that the “Guiding Opinions on Vigorously Implementing Renewable Energy Substitution Actions” points out that we will accelerate the application of renewable energy substitution in key areas.
Zhang Xing
Thank you for your question. The “Opinions” put forward key tasks in improving the alternative application of renewable energy in key areas. In the field of transportation, the integration and interaction of transportation and renewable energy will be accelerated. Construction of renewable energy transportation corridors. Encourage the construction of multi-functional integrated stations for optical storage, charging and discharging in qualified highway rest areas, railway stations, bus passenger stations, airports and ports. Accelerate the development of electric passenger vehicles, steadily promote the electrification of buses, and explore the promotion and application of new energy medium and heavy trucks. Actively explore the development of electrified highways, and increase the electrification of railways. Promote the use of shore power for ships in port, and encourage the pilot application of green electric intelligent ships. Promote the application of sustainable aviation fuel and carry out pilot operation of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft. Promote the pilot application of green and clean liquid fuels for vehicles in an orderly manner. Support qualified areas to carry out pilot operations of biodiesel, biojet coal, bio-natural gas, green hydroammonia, etc. in the field of ships and aviation.
In emerging areas, new infrastructure and the development and utilization of renewable energy will be coordinated. Strengthen the construction of charging infrastructure, gas stations and hydrogen stations, and improve the urban and rural charging network system. Optimize the spatial layout of new infrastructure, and promote the integrated development of 5G base stations, data centers, and supercomputing centers with photovoltaics, heat pumps, and energy storage. Promote the deep integration and development of artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, blockchain and renewable energy. Support the development of new infrastructure projects such as direct supply of green electricity and integration of source, grid, load and storage, carry out green certificate and green power trading and the construction of “green power parks”, and increase the proportion of new energy electricity consumption in strategic projects such as “Eastern Data and Western Computing”. Support the construction of big data centers in areas with cold water resources in national hub nodes. Carry out green technology transformation of old base stations and old and scattered data centers in an orderly manner. Promote the steady increase in the proportion of renewable energy use in new data centers year by year.
Reporter of the 21st Century Economic News
As the temperature drops, the northern region has successively opened the bolt for heating, what is the situation of keeping warm and ensuring supply in the peak winter this year, and what is the work deployment of the National Energy Administration?
Dong Wancheng
The National Energy Administration attaches great importance to the work of keeping warm and ensuring supply during the peak winter, and makes every effort to ensure the safe and stable supply of energy and the warm winter of the people.
During this year’s winter, it is expected that the highest electricity load in the country is comparable to that of summer, which is significantly higher than the winter load of last year, and the power supply is generally guaranteed, but it is facing certain pressure locally, such as the peak power supply in some provinces in North China, East China and Southwest China, and the demand side response measures need to be taken. In the event of extreme and disastrous weather, the national power supply gap may further widen.
With the continuous improvement of the long-term mechanism of clean heating, and combined with the situation of clean heating in the past two years, the supply of clean heating energy in the northern region this winter and next spring is guaranteed, and the overall operation is expected to be stable. However, there are many and wide range of clean heating points, especially the coal-to-electricity and coal-to-gas conversions involve thousands of households, and the individual problems of the masses using gas and electricity for heating must still be ignored.
We will strengthen overall planning and coordination, and take multiple measures to do a good job in keeping warm and ensuring supply in winter.
The first is to pay close attention to the issuance of early warnings of power supply and demand in the peak winter of 2024 and the work proposal of “one province, one policy” to guide local governments and enterprises to ensure supply pairs;
The second is to do a good job in the performance of medium and long-term energy contracts, do a solid job in coal storage and gas storage, and ensure the stable supply of fuel in key areas and key periods;
The third is to supervise and accelerate the construction of power grid projects, strengthen the guarantee of factors, and ensure that all investment and merger should be made during the peak winter this year;
Fourth, do a good job in clean heating in the north, consolidate the responsibilities of local governments and enterprises, and ensure that residents are warm in winter;
Fifth, it is necessary to make detailed emergency work plans to minimize the impact of extreme weather and other emergencies on the normal life of the people.
Reporter of the Voice of China of the main station
Hello! You just mentioned that the National Energy Administration will focus on the implementation of the Belt and Road Green Energy Cooperation Action Plan (2024-2029) in the next step.
Dong Xiang
Thank you for your question, and I would like to take this opportunity to give you a detailed introduction to the Belt and Road Green Energy Cooperation Action Plan (2024-2029).
In order to thoroughly implement the spirit of President Xi Jinping’s important speech at the 3rd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation that China will continue to deepen cooperation in green energy and other fields, we have jointly studied and formulated the Action Plan for the Belt and Road Green Energy Cooperation on the basis of the Qingdao Initiative for Green Energy Cooperation released earlier, and released it at the Ministerial Meeting.
The Action Plan focuses on key areas of green energy cooperation and proposes key measures for the next five years, including seven aspects.
The first is to jointly enhance the ability to ensure green energy security, and carry out no less than 50 international cooperation and exchange activities around the diversification of energy supply and energy interconnection;
The second is to jointly strengthen green energy policy and institutional innovation, and research and publish no less than 30 think tank reports focusing on the innovation of energy regulatory mechanisms and mutual recognition of green certificates and green power applications;
The third is to jointly strengthen cooperation in green energy technology innovation, and carry out no less than 5 joint R&D projects and no less than 5 clean and intelligent technology and equipment cooperation around hydrogen energy and new energy storage;
Fourth, we will jointly strengthen capacity building in the field of green energy, formulate targeted capacity building plans, and carry out no less than 25 capacity building projects in the energy field;
Fifth, we will jointly promote the exchange and cooperation of young talents, explore the construction of a new era energy youth exchange platform, and establish an energy joint teaching center;
Sixth, we will work together to strengthen green energy financial services, enrich and innovate investment and financing tools, and enhance the financing capacity of developing countries;
Seventh, we should work together to create a favorable environment for energy development and enhance the representation and voice of developing countries in global energy governance. We will work with our partners to achieve more practical results in green energy cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.
Reporter of China Electric Power News of China Energy Media
Regarding the “Guiding Opinions on Vigorously Implementing Renewable Energy Substitution Actions”, how will the National Energy Administration strengthen the safeguard measures for renewable energy substitution?
Zhang Xing
Thank you for your question.
The first is to improve laws, regulations and standards, establish and improve laws and regulations that support the priority use of renewable energy, and combine the formulation and revision of the Energy Law, the Renewable Energy Law, the Electricity Law, and the Energy Conservation Law to clarify the relevant rights, obligations and legal responsibilities of various entities in the development and utilization of renewable energy, and incorporate the alternative use of renewable energy into the standard and normative system for green and low-carbon development in various fields.
The second is to improve the green energy consumption mechanism, fully implement the requirements that non-fossil energy is not included in the total energy consumption and intensity control requirements, use green certificates as the basic vouchers for renewable electricity consumption accounting, and strengthen the effective connection between green certificates and energy conservation and carbon reduction policies. Improve the weighting mechanism for the responsibility of renewable electricity consumption, implement the responsibility for consumption to key energy-using units, and strengthen the rigid constraints on the use of green electricity by high-energy-consuming enterprises。
The third is to implement the financial and financial support policies for science and technology, make good use of the relevant policies for the promotion and application of the first (set) major technical equipment and the key projects of the national key research and development plan, and support the research and development and pilot application of key technologies for renewable energy substitution. Establish and improve green finance mechanisms, and support all types of entities in various fields to invest in the alternative use of renewable energy and infrastructure construction and upgrading.
Fourth, improve the market mechanism and price mechanism, deepen the market-oriented reform of new energy feed-in tariffs, establish and improve the medium- and long-term, spot and ancillary service market trading mechanisms that adapt to the characteristics of renewable energy, and support renewable energy power generation projects to carry out direct transactions with various users and sign multi-year power purchase and sales agreements with users。 Establish and improve market mechanisms for renewable energy heating, bio-natural gas, and clean and low-carbon hydrogen。 Establish and improve the price mechanism of energy storage. For the implementation of the two-part electricity price system, centralized charging and swapping facilities will be exempted from demand (capacity) electricity charges within the specified period。
Fifth, we need to deepen international cooperation, strengthen green energy cooperation with Belt and Road countries, deepen practical cooperation on green energy, and promote the completion of a number of green energy best practice projects. Establish a statistical analysis platform for international cooperation on clean energy, and promote international cooperation in the research and development of advanced technology and equipment for renewable energy applications in key areas such as industry, transportation, construction, agriculture and rural areas. Support the exchange of green certificates and green electricity with international institutions, and promote the development of green certificates.
Sixth, strengthen publicity and guidance, mobilize the whole people to participate in renewable energy substitution actions, organize and carry out training and pilot activities on the application of renewable energy in cities, villages, communities and parks, vigorously support the sales and use of renewable energy products, and promote residents to practice and promote green lifestyles.
CCTV reporter from China Central Radio and Television
In the first eight months of this year, about 1.7 trillion yuan was invested in key projects in the energy sector, fully reflecting the strong development momentum of the energy industry. What are the characteristics of energy investment and construction in the first three quarters?
Dong Wancheng
Thank you for your question, I’m here to answer that. According to monitoring, in the first eight months of this year, the investment in key energy projects maintained rapid growth, injecting momentum and vitality into high-quality economic and social development. On the whole, energy investment and construction show the following characteristics.
First, the national energy investment has maintained a rapid growth trend. In the energy sector, we will actively expand effective investment and vigorously and orderly promote the construction of major infrastructure and new infrastructure. By region, the investment in the eastern, central and western regions increased by 17.4 percent, 15.4 percent and 13.8 percent respectively year-on-year. At different levels, the construction of national-level projects continued to advance, and the investment in projects at the provincial level and below maintained rapid growth. The investment of central enterprises continued to grow rapidly, and the growth rate of private enterprise investment stabilized.
Second, investment in non-fossil energy power generation has grown steadily. A number of centralized wind power projects in Gansu, Xinjiang, Liaoning, Heilongjiang and Hebei have been accelerated. In terms of centralized photovoltaics, investment in projects under construction in Yunnan, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, Shandong and Hebei has been accelerated; In terms of distributed photovoltaics, the development of Jiangsu and Zhejiang has accelerated, and investment in Anhui and Guangdong has grown rapidly. The five newly approved nuclear power projects of Zhaoyuan in Shandong, Xuwei in Jiangsu, Sanao in Zhejiang, Lufeng in Guangdong and Bailong in Guangxi have gradually formed a physical workload.
Third, investment in energy network infrastructure has been steadily released. The investment in 5 inter-provincial and inter-regional UHVDC transmission projects under construction has been accelerated, and the construction of the main grid of the Sichuan-Chongqing UHV AC power grid has been solidly promoted. Investment in natural gas backbone pipeline network projects such as Hulin-Changchun, Sichuan-East Gas Transmission Line 2, West-East Gas Transmission Line 3, and West-East Gas Transmission Line 4 continued to be released. The investment in LNG terminals in Liaoning, Zhejiang, Guangxi and Shandong has grown rapidly, and the projects under construction have accelerated the formation of physical workload.
Fourth, the release of investment in new energy formats has been accelerated. The investment in new energy storage increased by 21.0% year-on-year, and the investment in pumped storage increased by 45.5% year-on-year. Sichuan and Jiangsu accelerated the release of charging and swapping infrastructure investment, and Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan charging infrastructure investment stabilized. A number of multi-energy complementary clean energy base projects in Gansu, Xinjiang and Qinghai are progressing in an orderly manner. The green hydrogen production project under construction in Inner Mongolia and the hydrogen refueling facility project under construction in Henan continue to form effective investment.
Thank you!
Globe.com reporter
At the 3rd Belt and Road Energy Ministers’ Meeting, the best practices of international cooperation in energy such as “Small but Beautiful” were released.
Dong Xiang
Thank you for your question. In order to further play the leading role of energy cooperation, in July this year, we solicited best practice cases of “small but beautiful” international energy cooperation from relevant energy enterprises and relevant financial institutions, and selected a total of 19 best practice cases in five categories.
The investment amount of these practical cases is small, but they have outstanding demonstration effects in the use of clean and low-carbon energy, driving smart innovation, promoting soft power cooperation, expanding green finance, and especially improving local people’s livelihood. For example, the “photovoltaic + direct drinking water” smart energy project invested and constructed by a Chinese company in Kiribati aims at the pain points of the local demand for clean drinking water, and uses photovoltaic to drive air water harvesting technology to provide clean drinking water for the only local general hospital, reducing water costs and optimizing power supply. Kiribati President Tanessi Mamao personally attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony and tasted the drinking water. Another example is the Garissa 50 MW photovoltaic power plant project designed, financed and built by a Chinese company in Kenya, which not only supports the local energy supply, but also lowers the price of electricity than the local electricity price, and the use of clean solar energy also promotes the optimization of the energy structure and the protection of the environment.
These “small but beautiful” international energy cooperation projects not only improve local energy supply and promote clean energy development, but also benefit people’s livelihood and connect people’s hearts, which is a vivid portrayal and good example of mutual benefit and common development of international energy cooperation.
Xinhua News Agency Xinhua Finance reporter
Since the beginning of this year, the installed capacity of new energy storage has maintained a rapid growth rate and gradually played a role, what measures will the National Energy Administration take to promote the development of the new energy storage industry?
Bian Guangqi
Thank you for your question. The National Energy Administration (NEA) has conscientiously implemented the new energy security strategy of “Four Revolutions and One Cooperation”, actively built a new energy storage development policy of “four beams and eight pillars”, and continued to deepen the relevant work on issues of concern to the industry.
The first is to strengthen the top-level design. Organize and carry out research on the development needs of new energy storage in the 15th Five-Year Plan, and form phased results. In accordance with the overall arrangement of the “15th Five-Year Plan” energy planning, on the basis of the previous work, we will strengthen the connection with the energy, power and other plans, and carry out the research and preparation of the “15th Five-Year Plan” new energy storage development implementation plan to promote the healthy and orderly development of the industry.
The second is to promote technological innovation. New energy storage technology innovations are emerging, a number of compressed air energy storage, flow battery energy storage, and sodium-ion battery energy storage have been implemented, and a number of grid-based energy storage projects have been verified. We will continue to encourage the “diversified” development of new energy storage technologies and promote the progress of new energy storage technologies by relying on new energy storage pilot demonstration projects and the first (set) of major technical equipment in the energy field.
The third is to guide scientific evaluation. The rapid development of the new energy storage industry, the diversification of technical routes, the rich application scenarios, and the scientific and standardized evaluation of the operation of new energy storage are an important basic work in the current development of the industry. To this end, we are organizing relevant units to carry out special research on the new energy storage evaluation index system, and some preliminary results have been formed, which are planned to be promoted in the industry in a timely manner.
Fourth, strengthen international exchanges. Countries around the world are vigorously promoting the energy transition and actively developing new energy storage. China’s new energy storage products are exported overseas, contributing China’s strength to the world’s energy transformation and development. We will strengthen international exchanges through cooperation mechanisms such as the Belt and Road Initiative and APEC to help Chinese enterprises better “go global”.
Zhang Xing
Due to time constraints, today’s press conference ends here, this press conference is broadcast live by Xinhuanet and our bureau portal website, and forwarded by our bureau’s WeChat public account, please pay attention. Thank you!
