Yao Qiang of China Power Construction: looking at the future new power system from seven aspects

During the "2021 international energy reform dialogue", the reporter interviewed Yao Qiang, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Committee and deputy general manager of China Electric Power Construction Group (Group) Co., Ltd., and gave an in-depth explanation on the topic of new power system with new energy as the main body.

The following is the interview record

China Power Construction Corporation is a global leader in renewable energy. We provide technical support and prepare the first draft of the renewable energy development plan for the 14th five year plan. In the past, 85% of China's hydropower projects were planned and designed by us, and 65% were built by us.

PowerChina ranks first among the top 150 design companies in the world and has been committed to developing renewable energy for a long time. Based on the realization of the goal of carbon neutrality, China power construction also has its own responsibility. Since 2013, we have been studying the construction of new power system under the scenario of carbon neutrality, and put forward the concept of green energy networking at the East Asia Summit clean energy forum held in Haikou in 2015.

There should be seven aspects to describe the new power system in the future.

One is the relationship between the government and the market. The future power system is the energy system, and the power security is the energy security, so the power is a strategic product and a public welfare product, involving thousands of households. The government should take the responsibility in the construction of the new power system, and at the same time endow the market with greater resources allocation power, so as to provide a fairer competition environment for all parties.

Second, based on China's resource endowment, we should adhere to the west to East power transmission, because a large number of renewable energy is concentrated in the West. To achieve carbon neutrality, the renewable energy resource endowment in the west is a huge support force.

Third, the new power system. Power system is a century old discipline, but based on the carbon neutral scenario, the new power system has become the latest discipline, so it is facing an extreme challenge and consensus - the current power system can not carry the non carbonized power mode. So what should the new power system look like? In my opinion, first of all, based on the intermittence or unpredictability of renewable energy, the synchronous power grid of the new power system should be appropriately controlled, instead of the huge power grid based on traditional coal power, which will pose a severe challenge to the stability of the future system and cannot be borne. Secondly, both in the load side and the user side, it should be networked. The basis of networking is digitization, which is based on the Internet of things, big data, cloud computing, and open source operating system to realize intelligent control and intelligent trading.

The fourth is the withdrawal of coal and power. When nearly 1 billion coal and power are to be withdrawn gradually, the system needs the support of rotary inertia to maintain stability. One of the most promising rotational inertia is nuclear power and the other is pumped storage. Nuclear power plays an important role in the new power system in the future carbon neutral scenario. We have only 32 million kilowatts of pumped storage in operation, and there are more than 50 million kilowatts under construction, with a total of more than 80 million kilowatts. I think that in the carbon neutral scenario, the pumped storage capacity should be more than 800 million kilowatts, that is to say, it should be increased by 10 times on the current basis, which has gradually formed a broad consensus.

The fifth is about energy storage. Although we have great expectations for electrochemical energy storage and play a great role, pumped storage is still the most large-scale, green and energy consuming way. In addition, pumped storage has a wide range of flexibility, which has a great effect on the stability of the system. Chemical energy storage is mainly used in the peak valley difference price of the user side, and the current peak valley difference price is still too conservative. For example, in France, the peak valley difference price is five times, and the five times peak valley difference price does not necessarily increase the burden of users, but it provides a large price space for all kinds of energy storage, whether it is the user side, the grid side, the power side, and provides a great possibility for the intermittent renewable energy development of Fenghuang.

The sixth is hydrogen energy, which is the ultimate alternative energy. However, hydrogen energy should adhere to one core, that is, hydrogen energy based on green power production is the fundamental path to realize carbon neutralization, not just hydrogen energy, not gray hydrogen or blue hydrogen, but green hydrogen.

The seventh is digital technology. I personally think carbon neutralization is calculated. It doesn't mean how much scenery resources you have or how much investment you have in hydrogen energy. The key is to realize intelligent control and intelligent trading through big data, IOT and blockchain technology. Therefore, without the support of digital technology, the large-scale development of renewable energy is impossible. Although we have a lot of wind and solar resources ready to develop, in fact, the existing traditional power grid can not support this new energy power system which is all carbon free power. I think the fundamental foundation of the new power system is digitization.

Source: China Energy News