Developing a new type of power system to support the "dual carbon" goal

Strive to achieve carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, which is related to the sustainable development of the Chinese nation and the construction of a Community of Common Destiny. The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposes to "actively and steadily promote carbon peaking and carbon neutrality" and "accelerate the planning and construction of a new energy system"

Strive to achieve carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, which is related to the sustainable development of the Chinese nation and the construction of a Community of Common Destiny. The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposes to "actively and steadily promote carbon peaking and carbon neutrality" and "accelerate the planning and construction of a new energy system". In China, carbon emissions from energy activities account for about 88% of the total carbon dioxide emissions, while carbon emissions from the power industry account for about 42% of the energy industry's carbon emissions. Therefore, to achieve the "dual carbon" goal, energy is the main battlefield, electricity is the main force, and the new power system is the key carrier.

Building the world's largest clean energy supply system has fundamentally changed the power structure. As of the end of 2022, the installed power generation capacity in China has reached 2.56 billion kilowatts and 8.7 trillion kilowatt hours, accounting for 30% of the world's total power generation; The installed proportion of non fossil energy power generation is 49%, and the proportion of electricity generation is 36%. The installed proportion of coal-fired power generation has historically decreased to below 50% since 2020. In the past decade, the proportion of non fossil energy consumption in China has increased from 9.7% to 17.4%, an increase of 2.1 times the world average for the same period.

Significant results have been achieved in energy conservation and carbon reduction. Coal power has achieved clean and efficient utilization, with 94% of coal power units completing ultra-low emission transformation, and over 80% of units with high parameters of over 300000 kilowatts. In 2022, the national average coal consumption for power supply decreased to 301.5 grams per kilowatt hour, and the coal consumption for power generation of million kilowatt units decreased to 249.7 grams per kilowatt hour. In the past 10 years, China has supported an average annual GDP growth of 6.7% with an average energy consumption growth of 3.1%. The energy consumption per unit of GDP has decreased by 26%, carbon emission intensity has decreased by 34%, and carbon emissions per unit of power generation have decreased by 22%.

Abundant achievements in power technology innovation. The ultra-high voltage technology has been widely promoted and applied, with 35 inter provincial ultra-high voltage transmission channels built. The electricity output of the ultra-high voltage "West East Power Transmission" exceeds 600 billion kilowatt hours per year, and more than 70% of the transmission is clean energy; The security and stability control technology of the power system has maintained a world leading level, and a "three lines of defense" power system security defense system has been established. China has not experienced large-scale power outages for more than 30 years, maintaining a world record for the safe operation of large-scale power grids.

The new power system is a hub platform for achieving the "dual carbon" goal. To achieve the "dual carbon" goal, it is fundamentally necessary to reduce fossil energy consumption and significantly increase non fossil energy consumption. By 2060, China's energy and electricity transformation will achieve the "70/80/90" goal, which means that the proportion of electricity consumption, non fossil energy consumption, and clean energy power generation will reach 70%, 80%, and 90% respectively, with new energy power generation accounting for over 60%. As fossil energy generation is gradually replaced by new energy, the morphological characteristics of the new power system have undergone significant changes. Driven by digital information technology, it will play an important role in ensuring the security of energy and electricity supply, achieving green and sustainable development, and other aspects.

The new power system has technical characteristics such as "extensive interconnection, intelligent interaction, flexibility, safety and controllability". The main approach to building a new type of power system is to promote the "two alternatives" at both ends, namely implementing clean substitution on the power production side and energy substitution on the energy consumption side, achieving carbon reduction at the source end and decarbonization at the end. On the power production side, coal used for power generation in China accounts for half of the coal consumption, about 1.7 billion tons of standard coal, and generates 4.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions. The fundamental approach to carbon reduction lies in the steady substitution of clean energy for coal power generation, forming a power supply system mainly composed of new energy, hydropower, nuclear power, biomass power generation, etc. On the energy consumption side, the electrification rates in the industrial, construction, and transportation sectors are 26%, 44%, and 4%, respectively, with a total carbon dioxide emissions of 7 billion tons. It is necessary to improve the electrification level of industrial, construction, and transportation, and achieve deep substitution of electricity for fossil fuels.

To build a new type of power system, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of a clean energy supply system with multiple complementary energy sources, a modern power grid system, a smart energy utilization system, and a national unified power market system, and actively promote innovation in the technical system, industrial system, and standard system of the new type of power system.

Clean and low-carbon development has become the future trend. New power systems need to be innovated from basic theories to core technologies. Relevant policies and mechanisms need to be promoted as a whole. We need to give full play to the leading role of scientific and technological innovation, break the Path dependence, strengthen the tackling of underlying technologies, cutting-edge technologies, and overlapping technologies, and increase research and development efforts in clean power generation technology, grid technology, Energy storage, hydrogen energy technology, re electrification technology Accelerate the achievement of innovative breakthroughs in carbon capture and fixation technology, digital technology, standardization technology, and other aspects.

The new power system inherits and develops the traditional power system, and its basic theories, technological industries, and institutional mechanisms are facing new changes. We need to strengthen cooperation, continuously explore, and jointly promote the construction and technological development of the new power system, making greater contributions to achieving the "dual carbon" goal.

(The author is the 36th Chairman of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), an academician of the CAE Member, and the president of the Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering. This article is selected from the report the author made recently at the 2023 International Standardization (Kirin) Conference, which was collated by our reporter Wang Meihua.)

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