Wang Zhixuan: Draw a portrait for "China Energy"

Currently, it is the window period of the preparation of energy and power planning for the "14th Five-Year-Plan" of China, and the transformation of energy and power sector has caught the eyes of many people. Wang Zhixuan, Vice President of CEC, shared his views .

"Three highs" in the energy industry needs more attention

How to draw a portrait for "China Energy"? The energy industry of China is in its late 40s, with overweight and a dark skin, Wang Zhixuan said.

"In 2019, the total energy consumption reached 4.86 billion tons of standard coal in China. A man in his late 40s is the pillar of a family, which is consistent with the supporting role of the energy industry in China's economic and social development. The dark skin implies China is the world's largest consumer of coal, and coal accounted for a relatively high proportion of primary energy consumption. Wang Zhixuan said that just like people have unhealthy problems of "three highs", the energy development in China also faces "three highs", i.e. high carbon emissions, high pollution, and high external dependence on oil and natural gas.

"In contrast, coal-fired power generation is in its' youth' period." Wang Zhixuan said that the current average operating life of coal-fired power units in China is about 12 years, which is relatively "younger" than that of 40 years in developed countries. "Compared with the major coal power countries in the world, without considering the load factor, the coal power efficiency in China is basically the same level as that of Japan, and better than Germany and the United States. In 2019, the coal consumption of thermal power units of 6000kW and above in China is 306.9g/kwh, which is 34.7% lower than that in 1978. The emissions of flue dust, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxide have all fallen by more than 90% from the peak. "

System optimization helps to reduce emission and consumption

"Limited restriction of fossil energy is one of the important factors of transformation, but it is not a fundamental factor. The real transformation is to allow renewable energy and traditional fossil energy to have the ability to compete on the same stage in a cost-effective way, Wang Zhixuan added. Therefore, the key for energy and power transformation in China is to solve the problem of energy and power system optimization. In terms of energy and power production and consumption, time, space, and types of fuel should be optimized to achieve the optimal results of input and output.

Non-hydro renewable energy sources will become the main body

Based on the above, Wang Zhixuan said that the functional nature of power supply of China has been upgraded to the quantity and quality requirements of power supply, then the greening of the energy system, and ultimately the main body of the energy industry and the core of the circular economy.

On the energy supply side, the potential of wind, solar and other new energy development is greater than coal power. Compared with fossil energy power generation, new energy projects  can be economically competitive in 5-10 years. On the energy consumption side, the proportion of electric energy in end-use energy consumption will continue to increase. According to the preliminary forecast of CEC, by 2035, China's electricity consumption will reach 1140 TWh, an increase of 65.5% compared with that in 2018, and the average annual growth rate from 2020 to 2035 will be about 2.7%."At that time, non-hydro renewable energy generation will become the main body of  power generation, and together with nuclear power, large-scale hydropower, gas power, coal power, distributed power generation and power storage, constitute a diversified new power system."