The thermal coal market, which should have entered the traditional off-season, is still hot recently.
From exploring and introducing new policies and measures to increase production and guarantee supply, to supervising and launching special inspections on the signing of mid- and long-term contracts, the coal supply has been guaranteed and price stabilized since March. above the target of 12 million tons.
Since the beginning of this year, my country's energy supply and price stabilization work has been planned in advance and fully promoted.
In addition to coal, judging from the latest data, compared with December last year, the growth rate of crude oil and natural gas production accelerated in the first two months of this year, and power production turned from decline to increase, and this effort is still increasing recently.
Although the heating season is coming to an end, the national energy group Ningxia Electric Power Co., Ltd.'s move to reserve "grain and grass" has not decreased but increased.
The largest coal-fired power and heating company in Ningxia has stepped up its procurement of long-term coal and spot coal. All units are uninterrupted to unload and unload coal 24 hours a day, and do everything possible to increase coal inventory.
As of March 20, the company's coal yard inventory was 2.82 million tons, and the available days reached 18 days.
"Economic Information Daily" reporter learned from an interview that Ningxia is an important transmission terminal of my country's "West-East Power Transmission". In order to ensure supply and delivery, many thermal power plants are currently in a state of full power.
According to the Ningxia Development and Reform Commission, the autonomous region has opened up a green coal transportation channel. At the same time, relevant departments have coordinated and organized the outsourcing of Lingwu-Shaoxing supporting power transactions, and timely adjusted the direct power transaction methods in the region to pilot green power transactions.
With multiple measures taken, coal supply in Ningxia has been stable recently, and power supply and demand are basically balanced.
As of March 13, orderly electricity consumption has not been implemented for 131 consecutive days.
This is not an exception.
Entering 2022, affected by various factors, the international energy supply situation will become more severe and complex, and domestic energy consumption will increase rigidly, which will pose new challenges to security and supply, and related work cannot be relaxed.
The revised government work report supplemented the content of "continuing to do a good job in ensuring the supply and price stability of energy and important raw materials". and security”... The recent succession of important deployments shows that ensuring security is the top priority for energy development throughout the year and even in the “14th Five-Year Plan”.
The key is to do a good job in ensuring the supply and price of coal.
"my country's coal accounts for 56% of the total energy consumption, and coal-fired power generation accounts for about 60%. If the coal price is stable, the electricity price will be stable, and the 'basic price' of energy prices will be stable." Hu Zucai, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, said.
Data show that in the first two months of this year, my country produced 690 million tons of raw coal, a year-on-year increase of 10.3%, and the growth rate was 3.1 percentage points higher than that in December last year, with an average daily output of 11.64 million tons.
A reporter from the "Economic Information Daily" has learned that since March, the member units of the inter-ministerial coordination mechanism for coal, electricity, and oil and gas transportation and related regions have held meetings for many times, focusing on the work of stabilizing and increasing coal production, studying related measures such as extending the supply guarantee policy, and further sorting out For coal mines with the potential to increase production, explore and introduce new policies and measures to increase production and ensure supply.
Recently, the relevant departments have set up a special work class to promote the increase of coal production and supply. During the year, an additional 300 million tons of production capacity will be released per year, and the national daily coal output will be stabilized at more than 12 million tons.
Aiming at medium and long-term coal contracts known as "ballast stone", regulation is also taking action.
From March 28 to April, the national inspection team will go to central enterprises and local governments to carry out special inspections on the performance of mid- and long-term coal contracts in 2022. The long-term contract prices cannot exceed the reasonable range determined by the National Development and Reform Commission recently.
While strengthening the guarantee of coal safety, my country will also significantly increase investment in oil and gas exploration and development this year, promote oil and gas reserves and production, and strive to increase oil production to 200 million tons in 2022 and stabilize production for a long time; Promote the construction of government dispatchable coal reserve capacity of more than 200 million tons, and add more than 5 billion cubic meters of gas storage facilities.
To enhance the capacity building of independent energy supply, on the one hand, it is necessary to stabilize the stock and tap the production potential of coal, coal-fired power, and oil and gas.
From the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of New Energy Storage" to the "14th Five-Year Plan for Modern Energy System", and then to the "Medium and Long-Term Plan for the Development of Hydrogen Energy Industry (2021-2035)", three heavyweights will be issued in three days this week. The pound document outlines the roadmap for green and low-carbon transformation of energy, and also kicks off the reform.
About 455 million kilowatts, which is the total installed capacity target of my country's planning and construction of wind and solar bases by 2030.
It is understood that the first batch of 100 million kilowatts of large-scale wind and solar base projects have been started one after another, and the second batch is also being accelerated.
According to data from the National Energy Administration, as of the end of February, the installed capacity of wind power was about 330 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 17.5%; the installed capacity of solar power was about 320 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 22.7%.
From a series of signs, it can be seen that the effectiveness of the energy supply and price stabilization policy has gradually emerged this year, but it cannot be ignored that pressure and challenges persist.
Shi Ying, vice chairman of China Coal Transportation and Marketing Association, is worried about many uncertain factors, "Currently, international energy prices are high and coal supply is tight. If this situation lasts for a long time, it will reduce imported coal and increase domestic coal demand. She said that the daily domestic coal output reached more than 12 million tons in the fourth quarter of last year, and it is not easy to continue this high level this year and release another 300 million tons/year of production capacity.
Moreover, the epidemic has affected the production and transportation of coal mines in some areas, and there is also a certain pressure on safety supervision.
At the same time, the supply and demand situation also depends on the changes on the demand side and the output of wind power photovoltaics, especially hydropower.
"If imports are greatly affected, coal supply and demand will be stable to tight this year."
The actual situation in Ningxia confirms this concern.
At present, the electricity load in the region is growing rapidly, while the coal price remains high.
Industry insiders, including Shi Ying, believe that increasing production in the future is still the primary task of ensuring energy supply.
At the same time, there is still a phenomenon of capital speculation in the coal market, which requires further refinement of supervision.
Sun Chuanwang, a professor at the China Energy Economics Research Center of Xiamen University, said that in the context of the current triple pressures such as supply shocks, my country, as a major energy producer and consumer, ensuring a safe and stable supply of energy is crucial to stabilizing the economy and protecting people's livelihoods.
Based on the basic national conditions of rich coal, poor oil and little gas, we must do a good job in ensuring sustainable supply in advance to prevent supply shortages during the "peak season".
At the same time, it is also necessary to do a good job in the reserve of important primary products to enhance the ability to resist risks.
(Reporter Wang Lu Yuyao)