Where is the difficulty in building a unified power market?
The recently released "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Accelerating the Construction of a National Unified Market" (hereinafter referred to as "Opinions") proposes to improve the multi-level unified power market system and study and promote the establishment of a national power trading center in a timely manner.
Since my country started a new round of power system reform in 2015, improving the construction of the power market has always been the top priority of the reform.
What are the new highlights of the proposed "multi-level unified power market system"?
What important functions will the National Electricity Trading Center play?
Facing the challenge of multiple goals
In 2015, the "Several Opinions on Further Deepening the Electric Power System Reform" was issued and implemented, and a new round of China's electric power system reform was officially launched.
After 7 years of development, a multi-competitive pattern of my country's electricity market has initially taken shape, the proportion of market-based traded electricity has increased significantly, and the role of the market in the optimal allocation of resources has been significantly enhanced.
In 2021, the national market-based traded electricity will be 3.7 trillion kWh, a year-on-year increase of 17.2%, accounting for 44.6% of the total social electricity consumption, nearly seven times the market-based traded electricity in 2015, with an average annual growth of about 40%.
With the implementation of the goal of peaking carbon and carbon neutrality and accelerating the construction of a new power system, my country's energy and power development pattern and market environment have undergone profound changes.
"Especially with the adjustment of the international energy structure in recent years, my country's requirements for energy security and supply, stable prices and benefits for the people have become increasingly prominent, and the power market reform is facing unprecedented challenges with multiple goals." said Du Zhongming, president of the General Electric Power Planning and Design Institute.
First, the double-peak characteristics of my country's electricity load in winter and summer are becoming more and more obvious.
Affected by factors such as the rising proportion of electric power consumption, the limited space for coal-fired power development, and the “large installed capacity and small power consumption” of new energy sources, the power supply and demand are gradually tightening.
Second, new energy will gradually become the main power source, and coal power will be transformed into a guaranteed basic power source.
The current market mechanism based on electricity competition cannot accurately reflect the electric energy value, capacity value, safety value and green value provided by various market players for the system, which is not conducive to ensuring the safe and stable operation of the new power system, and it is difficult to balance multiple market players. It is necessary to speed up the establishment of a market mechanism that adapts to the new power system.
Third, new energy has the characteristics of low marginal cost of power generation and high system consumption cost.
To this end, it is necessary to gradually establish and improve a power market system with coordinated pricing, guide the whole society to fairly assume responsibility for new energy consumption, system capacity, and adjust costs, so as to achieve an organic unity that promotes energy transformation and economic efficiency.
Experts said that to solve the above problems, it is necessary to improve the top-level planning from a higher level and accelerate the construction of a unified national electricity market system.
break down geographical boundaries
According to the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of the National Unified Electricity Market System" previously issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, by 2030, the national unified electricity market system will be basically completed, adapt to the requirements of the new power system, the national market and the provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities)/ Regional markets operate jointly, new energy fully participates in market transactions, market players compete on an equal footing and make independent choices, and power resources are further optimized nationwide.
Based on the overall construction goals, the "Opinions" once again emphasized "improving the multi-level unified power market system".
How to understand the relationship between "multi-level" and "unification"?
Zhang Lie, a professor at North China Electric Power University, said that the multi-level unified power market system in my country is mainly reflected in the multi-time dimension of power trading products, the multi-spatial span between power purchase and sale entities, and the market structure design of their organic coordination, that is, various trading cycles. The power trading mechanism and the synergistic relationship between the power trading platform trading product settings in different regions.
"Multi-level includes at least three dimensions: in terms of regions, sub-regions and countries; in terms of transaction types, there are conventional power supply, green power special transactions, etc.; in terms of organization, there are trading institutions at different levels." Du Zhongming further explained Said that, considering the inherent complexity of the power system, only a multi-level market can ensure the smooth flow of electricity across a wider range of the country.
At the same time, this diversity also brings certain difficulties to the construction of a unified national electricity market.
For example, each province has established different electricity market trading models, product systems, trading rules and electricity price systems. The inconsistency and inconsistency of trading mechanisms have become the main contradictions that must be resolved in the construction of a unified national electricity market.
"To improve the multi-level unified power market system, we must properly handle the relationship between 'many' and 'one'." Du Zhongming said that the diversification of the power market must ultimately be implemented on "unification".
At present, the pilot construction of the first and second batch of electricity spot markets in my country is steadily advancing, focusing on provinces as the main body, inter-provincial and inter-regional agreements are mainly based on inter-provincial agreements, and market-oriented methods are used to optimize the allocation of power resources across the region and the country. The blockage is to be cleared.
The "Opinions" proposed to study and promote the establishment of a national power trading center in a timely manner.
"There have been two regional power trading centers in Beijing and Guangzhou before, but the former mainly covers intra-regional transactions of the State Grid, and the latter covers intra-regional transactions of China Southern Power Grid. Electricity trading." Du Zhongming said.
Therefore, it is an important task for the construction of a unified national power market system to promote the establishment of a national power trading center in a timely manner, establish a corporate governance system and operation mechanism that is regulated in accordance with the law and with clear rights and responsibilities, improve the deliberation, coordination and supervision mechanism, and break down the geographical boundaries of power trading. .
Restore power commodity attributes
The "14th Five-Year Plan" period is a critical period and a window period for my country's carbon peak, and energy development will also enter a new stage.
According to the plan, by 2030, the total installed capacity of wind power and solar power in China will exceed 1.2 billion kilowatts, more than double the current level.
According to the calculation that the proportion of non-fossil energy consumption will reach more than 80% in 2060, the installed capacity of new energy power generation such as wind power and solar power generation will reach billions of kilowatts, becoming the main body of power supply.
The optimal allocation of resources on a larger scale is an important way to promote new energy consumption.
my country's clean energy is mainly concentrated in the "Three Norths" areas. Due to the low load intensity of the surrounding areas, the overall consumption is limited.
Chen Qixin, deputy dean of the Energy Internet Research Institute of Tsinghua University, believes that it is urgent to play the decisive role of the market in optimizing the allocation of resources, guide the unified planning, scientific layout, and efficient utilization of clean energy through market price signals, unify transaction rules and technical standards, and break market barriers. To achieve the optimal allocation and sharing of power resources across the country.
"The construction of a national unified electricity market is to allow buyers and sellers to meet directly in a wider range, which is conducive to increasing the proportion of clean energy consumption." Du Zhongming said.
At present, my country is in a critical period of building a new power system, and the increase in the penetration rate of clean energy poses a challenge to the safe and stable operation of the power system.
In Chen Qixin's view, it is necessary to further improve the composition of the power market system, unify the types and standards for the inclusion of diversified market entities, realize the integrated operation of the source, network, load and storage in a market-oriented way, fully stimulate the enthusiasm of market entities to participate, and promote the power system. The balance of supply and demand and the operation of the electricity market are in an orderly manner.
"The purpose of the reform is to restore the commodity attributes of electricity." Du Zhongming explained that electricity itself is a commodity, and there are differences in time and space, cost, and benefits. If the price cannot reflect these values, it cannot mobilize the enthusiasm of market players.
For example, if the market does not provide a reasonable price for the peak shaving function, when thermal power peak shaving is required, thermal power will not be motivated, and the flexibility of the power system will be limited.
For another example, if the market does not reflect the green and low-carbon value of new energy, the investment, production and consumption of new energy will also be hindered.
Wang Yichen