SCIO briefing on fully implementing new development philosophy and ensuring a good start of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025)
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E-mail China.org.cn, March 12, 2021
Southern Metropolis Daily:
Due to extremely cold weather, China's electricity consumption load last winter hit a new record, even higher than last summer. Will this situation become normal in the future? And we know the U.S. state of Texas recently suffered a large-scale and long-lasting power outage due to extremely cold temperatures. Facing new changes in the energy industry, what measures will the government take to guarantee energy security? Thank you.
Zhao Chenxin:
Thank you for your questions. As you said, there have been some new changes, new situations and new challenges to China's energy operation and supply. I'll address the subject from these three aspects.
First, let's review the basic situation at that time. As winter began, China's energy demand — especially its electricity demand — grew rapidly, due to the rapid recovery of economic activities and a large-scale cold front. The nation's peak power load hit new record highs on four days: last Dec. 14, 16 and 30, and this year on Jan. 7. In particular, the evening peak load nationwide hit 1.189 billion kilowatts on Jan. 7, which was more than 10% higher than last summer's peak. On the same day, the nation's power generation reached 25.967 billion kilowatt-hours. In a situation like this, it's difficult to fully satisfy the electricity demand. Currently, China's installed power generation capacity is more than 2 billion kilowatts. Therefore, it seems that we should have no problem with such huge installed capacity. However, since the peak load occurred at night, solar power generation, that is to say, photovoltaic power generation, could not be used. In addition, there was no large-scale wind across the country on Jan. 7, so we could only generate about 10% of wind power. The total installed capacity of wind and photovoltaic power generation is 530 million kilowatts, but there were 500 million kilowatts that could not be used. The total installed capacity of hydropower is 370 million kilowatts. However, as winter is the dry season, more than 200 million kilowatts could not be used during the peak load period. In addition, the peak of natural gas consumption occurs in winter. China's installed natural gas-fired power generation capacity is nearly 100 million kilowatts, but around 50 million kilowatts could not be used. As a result, it is really difficult for the remaining installed capacity to meet the demand of high load. We also need to consider the problems of regional capacity and shutdowns of generators for maintenance. No matter the difficulty, in accordance with General Secretary Xi Jinping's instructions on sticking to the people-centered philosophy of development, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the National Energy Administration (NEA) organized localities and central State-owned enterprise (SOEs) to make all-out efforts to meet the challenge, and we finally succeeded in ensuring smooth and orderly operation of the energy sector and stable and efficient power supply, especially supply for people's livelihood. No major problems occurred. The sharp contrast between us and the case you mentioned just now is a good manifestation of China's institutional strengths and our putting people first.
Second, let's talk about our evaluation of the new situation. Previously, peak energy consumption normally occurred in summer because of the rapid increase of the air conditioning load. According to our analysis, the unusual winter peak was mainly caused by the increasing demands for clean heating in northern China and for electric heating in southern China in recent years. Increases in air conditioning and electric heating loads both show the desire of the Chinese people for a better life. We must ensure stable energy supply to meet their aspiration. Therefore, the NDRC and the NEA have organized different sectors to carry out in-depth research, because we should take into consideration the safety, affordability and sustainability of energy supply, establish an energy system that is clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient, and achieve peak carbon emissions and carbon neutral goals. As such, we are preparing the next work plan.
Finally, let's talk about what should be done. This can be summed up in one sentence: We will fully implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's instructions on improving energy production, supply, reserve and sales systems. We have already made relevant plans, and the next step is implementation. In terms of production, we will strengthen the supply of energy resources by establishing a diversified power generation system featuring stable operation. In terms of supply, we will improve energy resource allocation by promoting the coordinated development of power grids at different levels nationwide. In terms of reserve, we will shore up our weak links in energy reserve by strengthening our reserve capacity in an all-round way. In terms of sales, we will build a modern energy market system and use market-based measures to deepen energy demand side management.
In conclusion, in recent years, in accordance with General Secretary Xi Jinping's requirement for a new energy security strategy featuring "Four Reforms" and "One Cooperation," we have secured profound progress in energy sector. We have prominent institutional strengths, a strong material foundation and rich supply experiences to confidently ensure energy security during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, and enhance people's sense of satisfaction. Thank you.
