Coal and electricity carbon peak: walking on the balance beam
China News Weekly reporter/Xu Tian
Published in the 997th issue of China News Weekly, 201.5.31
A subversive discussion is underway in China's energy field. The topic is whether China's more than 1,000 coal-fired power plants will be sentenced to "death with reprieve"?
And what exactly should China's power system look like in the future?
This big discussion started to ferment from the beginning of 2020.
At that time, the Global Sustainable Development Center of the University of Maryland, the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, and North China Electric Power University jointly issued the report "Accelerating the Exit of China's Coal-fired Power Plants: Exploring Viable Decommissioning Paths through Plant-by-plant Evaluation" ((hereinafter referred to as "Retirement Paths"). "Report). The report believes that it is feasible to accelerate the in-depth emission reduction of China’s power industry and promote the orderly withdrawal of traditional coal-fired power plants from the energy system. "To achieve this goal, China should stop adding new coal-fired power plants in the short term. Quickly eliminate the identified priority decommissioning units, and adjust the positioning of coal power as soon as possible to promote the transformation of coal power from baseload power to regulated power."
After the report was released, huge controversy arose among social media and industry professionals, and there were many voices supporting and opposing the “exit of coal power”.
These controversies seem to be more urgent and realistic today, one year later.
In September last year, China made it clear for the first time that its carbon dioxide emissions will reach its peak by 2030 and strive to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.
The power industry is the most important carbon emission sector. In 2020, China's power industry will account for 37% of the country's total carbon emissions.
The dominance of one coal is very prominent in the power industry.
In an interview with China News Weekly, Zou Ji, CEO of the Energy Foundation and President of China Region and former deputy director of the National Climate Change Strategy Center, pointed out that the discussion on the future fate of the power system involves power supply, power grid, load, Energy storage and power market systems and mechanisms.
He revealed that the power industry’s carbon peaking action plan is being discussed and planned, including the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Energy Administration and other departments. The two major power grids and the five major power generation groups are also important influential forces.
Within this year, there will be major policies on the peak roadmap and timetable for the power industry.
Coal power projects launched against the trend
Yuan Jiahai, a professor at the School of Economics and Management of North China Electric Power University, noted that after the outbreak of the new crown in 2020, in order to stimulate investment and stimulate the economy, a large number of coal power projects have been launched against the trend.
He told China News Weekly that according to public data calculations, the newly approved coal power installed capacity in 2020 will total 46.1 million kilowatts, accounting for about 32% of the total approved during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, which is the total approved in 2019. 3.3 times.
Especially in the fourth quarter of 2020, that is, after China has clearly put forward the dual-carbon target of carbon peak and carbon neutrality, the development and reform commissions of 12 places including Hubei, Jiangsu and Guizhou have approved the total amount of 80. 10,000-kilowatt coal-fired power projects accounted for 17.5% of the annual throughput.
The international environmental protection organization Greenpeace has also noticed this trend.
On March 29, 2021, Greenpeace issued a briefing report "The 2020 coal power approval boom cannot be repeated during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period."
The briefing pointed out that the number of newly approved coal power plants will rebound in 2020, and 46.1 million kilowatts of local coal power plants will be charged before the 14th Five-Year Plan.
Zhang Kai, one of the authors of the briefing and deputy director of the Greenpeace Project, believes that “the short-sighted behavior of a large number of coal-fired power plants in various provinces in 2020 will be contrary to China’s medium and long-term strategic needs for green and low-carbon development.”
China’s newly approved total coal power installed capacity has risen in a U-shaped curve during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, showing the difficulty of strictly controlling new coal power projects.
The coal power industry has been in the quagmire of losses for many years, with losses of up to 50% for a long time.
According to the public information of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, as of the end of 2018, the five major power central enterprises-National Energy Group, Huaneng, Datang, State Power Investment, and Huadian had a total debt of 1.1 trillion yuan, an average debt-to-asset ratio of 73.1%, a loss of 54.2%, and accumulated losses. 37.96 billion yuan.
The coal power business of central enterprises in 15 provinces in the northwest, southwest, and northeast regions suffered an overall loss in 2018.
Taking Northwest China as an example, Gansu is a large coal power province, but as of the end of 2018, 19 coal power companies in Gansu Province had a total loss of 17.6 billion yuan, and 4 of them had asset-liability ratios higher than 200%.
The reduction of coal power is a problem for many parts of China.
In order to resolve the situation of overcapacity of coal power, the regulatory authorities have tried a variety of administrative measures to strictly control the scale of coal power.
The National Energy Administration has twice halted the newly-built and under-construction coal power projects in many provinces that do not meet the approved construction conditions and has issued an early warning of the risk of coal power planning and construction in various regions within 3 years. The area with the warning result in red indicates that the place exists Electricity is redundant and new coal-fired power projects are not allowed.
In 2016, when the warning was first issued, except for Tibet, which was not rated, only six provinces in China were green and orange, and the rest were red.
The integration of coal power in the five northwestern provinces is carried out under the premise of strict control of coal power projects.
Since 2019, the SASAC has launched a pilot project for resource integration in five provinces and regions with coal power overcapacity and continuous loss of coal power companies: Gansu, Shaanxi, Xinjiang, Qinghai, and Ningxia.
The core plan is "one province, one enterprise", that is, each province’s coal power company retains only one lead central enterprise, and the other four central enterprises in the province’s coal power enterprises are transferred to the lead central enterprise.
Specifically, Huaneng leads Gansu, Datang leads Shaanxi (except National Energy Group), Huadian leads Xinjiang, State Power Investment leads Qinghai, and National Energy Group leads Ningxia.
In December 2020, with the completion of the handover of relevant coal power plants in Xinjiang, the coal-fired power integration in the five northwestern provinces and regions has initially come to an end.
If all goes well, by the end of this year, the coal power capacity of the five provinces will drop by up to one-third.
In an interview with China News Weekly, Han Wenxuan, deputy chief economist of the Energy Research Institute of Huaneng Group, pointed out that coal power integration will be piloted in the northwest, and the next step may be rolled out across the country.
Because of the stringent control of coal-fired power that has taken multiple measures over the years, the proportion of installed capacity will be lower than 50% for the first time at the end of 2020.
However, on the one hand, there is industry bailout, and on the other, the policy of strict control of coal power has been repeated from time to time.
The Sixth Central Ecological and Environmental Protection Supervision Group pointed out that within the National Energy Administration, ecological and environmental protection has not been placed on its due level, and it has not been integrated with energy development and integrated consideration. This is an important factor that has led to the long-term extensive development of my country's energy industry. the reason.
Greenpeace believes that an important reason for the rise in coal power approvals is precisely because the energy authorities have relaxed the coal power risk early warning mechanism.
According to the pre-warning of the risk of coal power planning and construction in various regions issued by the National Energy Administration, the number of red areas has been decreasing year after year, from 17 in 2021, 8 in 2022, to 3 in 2023.
Li Xiang, a special associate researcher of the Energy Research Institute of Peking University, told China News Weekly that the large scale of coal power projects has a very obvious effect on stimulating employment and stimulating the local economy.
In fact, due to the losses in the coal power industry, the investment willingness of the major power generation central enterprises is not very strong, mainly driven by local governments.
In addition, the enthusiasm of provincial power companies is also relatively high.
According to Yuan Jiahai’s statistics, coal-fired power projects currently in the development stage (under construction, postponement, suspension, storage, approval, development and announcement before approval) total 413 million kilowatts.
If all is completed, the installed capacity will account for 40% of the country’s existing coal-fired power capacity, which will add a lot of resistance to achieving carbon peaks.
The Global Energy Internet Development Cooperation Organization clearly pointed out in the “Research on China’s Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for Electric Power Development” that every additional 100 million kilowatts of coal-fired power units will not only increase more than 300 billion yuan in asset losses, but also lead to more than 300 billion yuan in asset losses before 2030. It will reduce the total installed capacity of clean energy by approximately 300 million kilowatts.
When will the power industry reach its peak?
On April 22, at the Earth Day Leaders' Climate Summit, President Xi Jinping proposed that China will strictly control coal power projects, strictly control the growth of coal consumption during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period and gradually decrease during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period.
For the first time, Chinese leaders have clearly "strictly controlled coal power" and sent a strong signal.
Li Yan, chief representative of Greenpeace China, believes that the coal issue is the focus of China's carbon emission reduction.
Previously, the “14th Five-Year Plan” did not clearly propose a path design related to the energy transition and coal.
President Xi Jinping’s speech made it clear that coal control will be a major means for China to reduce carbon emissions in the future.
She believes: "The strict control of the 14th Five-Year Plan and the reductions in the 15th Five-Year Plan have in fact indicated that the growth of coal consumption will come to an end within this five-year period."
This is also an international trend. At least 25 countries and regions have pledged to stop using coal for power generation by 2030.
"China Energy News" reported that France plans to close all coal-fired power plants in 2021, the United Kingdom has decided to close all coal-fired power facilities by 2025, Finland has proposed a total ban on coal in 2030, and the Netherlands will ban the use of coal for power generation from 2030.
Will China's coal-fired power industry withdraw completely?
How much will be left in the future?
What is the future positioning?
Will new coal-fired power projects be added during the 14th Five-Year Plan?
How to determine the peak time?
In the discussion of the carbon peaking action plan in the power industry, these are the focus issues of all parties' attention.
The National Development and Reform Commission’s Energy Research Institute and the University of Maryland’s Global Sustainable Development Center’s "Retirement Path" report concluded that: under the pressure of climate targets, China should phase out traditional coal-fired power plants between 2050 and 2055. If the target is more stringent, traditional coal-fired power plants will need to be phased out between 2040 and 2045.
One of the authors of the report, Jiang Kejun, a researcher at the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, later gave a further statement in an interview with the media. He predicted that by 2050, coal power generation will be close to zero, and the total installed capacity will be less than 2 Billion kilowatts.
Compared with the current 1.08 billion kilowatts of coal power installed capacity, the installed capacity will be greatly reduced.
"Wind power and photovoltaics depend on the sky for food, but there will be more and more extreme climates. God must be more and more unreliable. You must have something reliable in your hands." Changjiang Scholar, Xiamen University, China Energy Policy Research Dean Lin Boqiang told China News Weekly that he believes that if there is still a small amount of coal power in hand in the future, at least he will not panic.
In his view, the complete withdrawal of coal power is an uneconomical practice.
Under the premise that renewable energy is the development direction, the carbon neutral path should be cost-compared, that is, the cost of coal power is 100% withdrawn, and the cost of new renewable energy power generation and energy storage, and the remaining part of coal power as peak shaving Power source, and is equipped with the cost of carbon capture, utilization and storage technology (CCUS technology for short).
Several interviewed experts agreed in an interview with China News Weekly that coal power will withdraw, but not 100%.
Zou Ji predicts that in 20 to 30 years, renewable energy will inevitably occupy an overwhelming proportion of China's power supply structure, but it does not rule out that there will still be a small amount of coal power.
How much is left in the end, the industry has not yet explored a very clear answer.
However, its proportion is inevitably small, and it will undergo a flexible transformation, and the positioning will be changed to a peak shaving power supply and equipped with CCUS technology.
A more urgent practical question is, should China's coal-fired power projects that are currently in the development stage (under construction, postponement, suspension, storage, approval, development and announcement before approval) be launched during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period?
The answer to the question will be directly related to when China's power industry reaches its peak.
If the installed capacity of coal power is further increased and coal power generation capacity rises, the peak of the power industry will inevitably be postponed.
Jiang Kejun believes that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China does not need to add new coal power capacity at all.
500 million kilowatts of coal power installed capacity is sufficient to meet the "14th Five-Year Plan" or even longer-term peak shaving needs, while coal power generation units are now close to 1.1 billion kilowatts.
"What I am worried about now is that under such a general trend, coal power companies are still investing against the trend, and the final result may be that the investment cannot be recovered."
However, many research institutions believe that there will be new installations during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period.
North China Electric Power University, China Electricity Council, Electric Power Regulatory Institute, and State Grid Energy Research Institute respectively suggest that the total coal power installed capacity during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period is 1.15 billion kilowatts, 1.23 billion kilowatts to 1.25 billion kilowatts, 1.25 billion kilowatts, and 1.25 billion. Kilowatts to 1.3 billion kilowatts, which are higher than the 1.08 billion kilowatts of the current installed capacity.
Han Wenxuan told China News Weekly that the electric power industry is the main battlefield of the “dual-carbon goal”, and it must also work in coordination with other industries. It is also affected by the speed of economic and electric power development, the speed at which non-fossil energy replaces fossil energy in power increments, The speed of replacing fossil energy on the power consumption side and the speed of the development of coal-fired power under control are affected by multiple factors.
According to his comprehensive judgment, the National Energy Administration lacks confidence in achieving carbon peaks in the power industry during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, and the possibility is very small. The greatest possibility will be in the middle and late stages of the "15th Five-Year Plan".
Shutting down the power plant is a tough battle
Jia Rangquan, general manager of Zhengzhou Rongqi (Jujin) Thermal Power Energy Co., Ltd., has been in the anxiety of shutting down the power plant several years ago.
According to media reports, the Central Environmental Protection Supervision Group pointed out that Zhengzhou’s “thermal power besieged city” problem was very prominent when it launched a “look back” on Henan Province. The installed coal power capacity accounted for 89.5% of the city’s power generation units, and it was less than 300,000 kilowatts. The proportion of coal-fired power generating units in China is relatively large, coal consumption is relatively high, and economic benefits are biased.
In order to solve this problem, Zhengzhou required to shut down or renovate coal-fired power units below 300,000 kilowatts in the city. Two 210,000-kilowatt units of Rongqi Thermal Power were required to be shut down.
Jia Rangquan told the media that just a year before receiving the shutdown notice, his plant had just completed the ultra-low emission transformation of the two units and passed the clean production acceptance organized by the Henan Provincial Environmental Protection Department.
Once shut down, all the investment of 43 million yuan for the renovation will be "washed up", and the power plant's accumulated investment of 200 million yuan in environmental protection in the past five years will also be spent in vain.
The greater dilemma lies in economic losses and personnel placement.
If the two units of Rongqi Thermal Power were shut down, their remaining life should have been 15 years, and the total asset loss would exceed 5 billion yuan.
The 419 employees in the factory will lose their jobs directly, and many downstream power and heating companies will also be affected.
Moreover, after hearing that Rongqi Thermal Power was going to be shut down, various banks and financial institutions took out loans.
In mid-2019, there were media reports that the relevant person in charge of the factory stated that the workers' wages had been in arrears for 7 months, 170 million yuan in coal payments and more than 40 million yuan in material payments.
The dilemma encountered by Rongqi Thermal Power will continue to be staged in the continuous withdrawal of coal power across the country.
A practitioner in the electric power industry in Shaanxi wrote on his official account, “Amidst the earth-shaking changes in the energy industry, thermal power plants are like small boats in the ocean. Some are fighting the wind and waves, and some are fighting the waves. The ashes fell into smoke and disappeared."
The "Retirement Path" report counts more than 1,000 coal-fired power plants in service covering more than 90% of China’s total installed capacity. Based on the benefit estimates from all parties, the report’s optimal solution is: In addition to the fact that it has been in operation for more than 10 years, the unit capacity The 18% of active units that are less than 600,000 kilowatts and do not use high-efficiency technologies should be quickly eliminated in a short period of time. The remaining units should guarantee their 30-year minimum operating life and be phased out. The utilization hours will be gradually reduced from the current 4350 hours to 2050. Less than 1000 hours a year.
Jiang Kejun suggested that withdrawal of subsidies should also be treated differently.
The total amount of subsidies can be set according to the normal operating level of the coal power industry as a reference system.
The state is responsible for the coal-fired power units that were put into operation before 2016. The coal-fired power units put into operation after 2016 belong to the country's three orders and five applications not to invest in coal power, and they are still operating against the wind. They should find their own way out.
The unemployed population in the coal power industry is the tricky part of the reform.
Zou Ji told China News Weekly that they predicted that between now and 2050, the number of jobs in China's renewable energy industry will increase by 10 million, that is, 330,000 jobs will be created every year.
For the old workers who are about to retire in the coal and power industry, the finance should pay for the bottom line; and for the young and middle-aged, more job opportunities in the sunrise industry should be created, and their transfer training should be done well.
Qin Haiyan, secretary-general of the Wind Energy Professional Committee of the Chinese Renewable Energy Society, told China News Weekly that China can learn from the German experience when formulating policies and plans for the gradual withdrawal of coal power.
In 2020, Germany passed the "Phasing out Coal Power Act" and "Mining Area Structural Adjustment Act", stipulating that coal power should be phased out by 2038, and the timetable for coal power withdrawal, power supply security, employment placement, and related industry transformation, Make detailed plans for social security and other aspects.
Qin Haiyan pointed out that my country must openly and transparently discuss the existing problems, prepare for a rainy day, do a good job of disposal plans and financial arrangements, and formulate a detailed and reasonable route for returning coal.
This determines the results of the energy transition in the next 10 years, and also determines whether the goal of carbon neutrality can be successfully achieved in the future.
The impact of new energy grid connection
If an overly aggressive coal-fired power withdrawal plan is formulated, not only will it face technical and economic disputes, but also public psychological acceptance will also be one of the considerations.
In response to the aforementioned "Retirement Path" report, some netizens are worried, "Because of the instability of wind and solar power generation, if the coal power withdrawal plan is formulated in accordance with the goals of the Paris Agreement, then there will be a shortage of oil and gas. With nuclear power safety and energy storage technology restrictions, and hydrogen energy still in its infancy, our energy demand and energy security may face great challenges."
Bai Rongchun, former deputy director of the Energy Bureau of the National Development and Reform Commission, also put forward his own views. The first consideration for the withdrawal of coal power is the issue of power security.
The economic development of various regions now has a great demand for electricity, which also puts forward high requirements on coal power plants. "It is necessary to consider whether we can guarantee the total supply of electricity and the supply of districts after the withdrawal of coal power."
Lin Boqiang pointed out that the development space of nuclear power is limited, and most of the potential of hydropower has been developed. Gas power depends on imports due to resource endowment issues and affects energy security. Therefore, China can only choose wind power and photovoltaic power.
An internal material from the State Grid Energy Research Institute also supports Lin Boqiang's point of view.
The materials show that my country has few hydropower resources and high costs.
The development rate of hydropower in the eastern and central parts is over 80%, and the hydropower to be developed is concentrated in the southwest. Issues such as ecological protection, reservoir resettlement, and delivery channels must be properly handled. Costs have increased significantly, and development has greater uncertainty.
The nuclear power coastal site resources are about 200 million kilowatts, and 65 million kilowatts have been built under construction. The potential for future development is also limited. The inland nuclear power development is uncertain, and the "neighboring effect" brings greater nuclear power large-scale development. Difficulty.
In 2020, China's coal-fired power generation capacity will be 1.08 billion kilowatts, accounting for 49.1% of the total installed capacity, and coal-fired power generation will account for 60.8% of the total power generation.
Zhang Jianhua, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director of the National Energy Administration, pointed out in April that, according to preliminary calculations by relevant research institutions, by 2060, my country's proportion of non-fossil energy power generation will increase from the current 34% to over 90%.
But compared to the "big brother" of coal power, wind power and photovoltaic power generation can only be regarded as "little brother" at present.
According to the figures released by the China Electricity Council, as of the end of last year, grid-connected wind power was 280 million kilowatts and grid-connected photovoltaics were 250 million kilowatts. From the perspective of power generation, coal-fired power generation was 4.63 trillion kWh, and the gap in wind power and photovoltaic power generation was very large. 466.5 billion kWh and 261.1 billion kWh.
Qin Haiyan pointed out that the development of wind power must be accelerated. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, wind power must be increased by at least 50 million kilowatts per year, and there is no upper limit.
Liu Yiyang, deputy secretary-general of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, also told China News Weekly that photovoltaics are vigorously developing new installed capacity. The target during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period is an average of 70 million kilowatts to 90 million kilowatts per year. It will be further improved during this period.
After a large number of wind power photovoltaics will be connected to the grid in the future, there is no doubt that it will bring about a new problem: it will bring an impact to the power system.
Guo Jianbo, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that the contradiction between new energy consumption and power system security is prominent, which brings challenges to the market mechanism design, planning and design, production management, and operation control of the power system.
Hunan has encountered the obvious problem of "incoordination between the old and the new".
Hunan’s total installed power generation capacity is 47 million kilowatts, of which thermal power installed capacity is more than 22 million kilowatts, accounting for only about 45%; hydropower and new energy installed capacity exceed half, but the wind curtailment rate is as high as 35%.
At the end of 2020, Hunan's power supply has seen a large gap, and the phenomenon of starting the switch and rationing.
The problem in Hunan is a microcosm of the current structural contradictions in China's power industry.
Yuan Jiahai pointed out that due to the contradiction between regional resources and load, the power supply in some areas is still tight. Unlike the power shortage 20 years ago, the national power generation capacity has developed rapidly. The problem at this time is "overall power surplus and peak power shortage." "Coexistence" led to the phenomenon of "full year electricity, short-term power shortage".
The large number of grid-connections of new energy power generation will increase the difficulty of solving the structural contradictions of power.
Li Xiang explained to China News Weekly that the power system needs to be balanced in real time, and the power supply side must generate electricity in a timely manner.
If the consumption is not timely, the power system will collapse. If the demand on the power end is too large, the power supply side cannot respond, and the power system will also collapse.
The large-scale grid connection of wind power and photovoltaics will bring intermittent challenges to the power system. For example, the wind power is huge for a certain period of time, and the amount of wind power generation is also increasing rapidly, or the wind power cannot be supplied for a certain period of time when the wind stops suddenly.
This is also a problem that China's wind power and photovoltaic must be solved for further grid connection. In Lin Boqiang's words, consumers like clean electricity, but consumers prefer stable electricity.
Therefore, it is very important to build a flexible power system that can guarantee the safety of power consumption.
Shan Baoguo, director of the Institute of Economics and Energy Supply and Demand of the State Grid Energy Research Institute, pointed out that the proportion and pace of coal power withdrawal must be based on safety. "It is meaningless without guaranteeing a safe energy transition."
The development of wind power and photovoltaics in my country is mainly located in the northern part of the western region where local load demand is small, and the local consumption capacity is weak. For better cross-regional power resource allocation, UHV projects have emerged, and the western high-quality renewable resources are therefore transported. Go to the central and eastern regions to reduce local fossil energy consumption and environmental pollution.
However, Greenpeace’s "Economic Analysis and Guarantee Path Study of China’s Power Supply Security" pointed out that, taking Shandong Province as an example, it has 8 inter-provincial UHV lines as a receiving province, and only one line has a utilization rate of close to 90%. Others are on the low side, and the lowest utilization rate is only 10.27%.
When the Central Sixth Ecological Environmental Protection Supervision Group reported to the National Energy Administration of its inspection situation, it also pointed out that “there are problems such as inadequate policy coordination in the consumption of renewable energy, and 2 of the 14 relevant transmission channels carry less than 1% of renewable energy. %".
As of the end of 2019, the proportion of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Yangtze River Delta regions receiving outbound power has only increased by 4.1 percentage points and 2.7 percentage points respectively over 2017, and the increase is not significant.
In addition, of the 12 power transmission channels planned to be completed and put into operation by the end of 2017, two have been delayed by one year, and one has not been completed by the time of the inspection.
This is one of the pain points that hinder the carbon peaking plan of the power system.
Zou Ji told China News Weekly that within ten years, there will be 6.7 billion kilowatts of new wind and solar installed capacity, which will be built in Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang and other provinces. Everyone is discussing that it should be established. What are the things, the north-south channels, and which target markets are sent to? "What is the mechanism of cross-regional power adjustment? How is the electricity price set? How is the electricity distributed? This series is all we have to consider."
Liu Yiyang pointed out that consumption is mainly not a technical issue, but more a policy issue.
The Greenpeace report also pointed out that in order to protect the province’s economy or corporate interests, the competent authorities and related companies involved in power transmission or receiving provinces have raised transmission and distribution prices, or imposed administrative measures to restrict transactions.
The UHV project is costly, but inter-provincial barriers make the line utilization rate low and it is difficult to recover the cost.
Zou Ji said that in the future inter-provincial power resource allocation negotiations, in order to break administrative barriers, the government should withdraw, establish a unified market, and let the market mechanism play a leading role.
I am afraid that the increase in electricity prices will also become the meaning of the question.
Zou Ji pointed out that the flexibility of the power system will inevitably lead to an increase in power costs, but no individual individual can bear this cost. End users, power grids, power plants, and energy storage companies should all participate in cost sharing.
In the energy reform, there is a saying called the "Impossible Triangle", that is, no energy can be adequately supplied, cheap, and clean and environmentally friendly.
Lin Boqiang pointed out that the more unstable the power system, the more expensive it is.
The government hopes that electricity prices will not rise as much as possible, but the cost of the electricity system continues to rise. Who will absorb it?
In the medium and long term, electricity prices must be reformed.
China News Weekly, Issue 19, 2021
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