Two Ministries: New Power System Adapted to High Proportion of New Energy to Be Essentially Established by 2035

    The National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration have issued guiding opinions on promoting the integration and regulation of new energy. The document proposes that by 2030, a coordinated and efficient multi-level system for integrating and regulating new energy will be largely established. This system will ensure the smooth grid connection, diversified utilization, and efficient operation of new energy, with new electricity demand primarily met by new renewable power generation. It will accommodate the reasonable integration of over 200 gigawatts of new energy annually nationwide, contributing to achieving the carbon peak target. By 2035, a new power system adapted to high proportions of new energy will be fundamentally established, with the new energy consumption and regulation system further refined.

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    Guiding Opinions of the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration on Promoting New Energy Integration and Regulation

    To fully implement the spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress and all plenary sessions of the 20th CPC Central Committee, enforce the Energy Law of the People's Republic of China, refine policy measures for new energy integration and regulation, and robustly support the development of a new energy system and power system, the following opinions are hereby put forward.

    I. General Requirements

    Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, we will thoroughly implement the new energy security strategy of “four revolutions and one cooperation.” Adhering to a systematic approach, differentiated measures, diversified consumption, market guidance, safety as the foundation, and innovation-driven development, we will refine new energy consumption measures, optimize system regulation, and promote high-quality consumption of new energy alongside its large-scale development. By 2030, a coordinated and efficient multi-level new energy integration and regulation system will be fundamentally established, continuously ensuring the smooth grid connection, diversified utilization, and efficient operation of new energy. New electricity demand will be primarily met by new new energy generation capacity. The adaptability of the new power system will be significantly enhanced, with substantially improved system regulation capabilities. Mechanisms within the power market to promote new energy integration will be further refined, and cross-provincial and cross-regional new energy transactions will become more seamless. This will meet the reasonable integration demand for over 200 gigawatts of new annual new energy capacity nationwide, supporting the achievement of the carbon peak target. By 2035, a new power system adapted to high proportions of new energy will be largely completed. The new energy integration and control system will be further refined, with the unified national power market playing a foundational role in allocating new energy resources. New energy will be optimally distributed and efficiently integrated nationwide, supporting the achievement of the country's nationally determined contribution targets.

    II. Categorized Guidance for New Energy Development and Integration

    (1) Coordinate Power Transmission and Local Integration for New Energy Bases in Desert, Gobi, and Barren Land Areas. Fully implement the Party Central Committee's decisions on desertification control and the development layout plan for new energy bases in these regions, promoting both power transmission and local integration. Focus on rationally locating transmission bases in desert, Gobi, arid, desertified, and saline-alkali regions to enhance base economics. Establish a responsibility system for both sending and receiving ends to implement national strategies, strengthening the receiving end's responsibility for new energy consumption. Promote large-scale local consumption of new energy from desert, Gobi, and arid land bases through integrated new energy development, industrial transfer from eastern regions, and tapping consumption potential in western regions.

    (2) Optimize integrated development and consumption of hydropower, wind, and solar bases. Leverage large-scale hydropower bases in Southwest China, fully consider hydropower's regulatory characteristics, and optimize new energy allocation. For existing hydropower transmission corridors meeting conditions, rationally increase new energy allocation to enhance corridor utilization. Combine development of the Ya-Xia hydropower base with optimized feasibility studies on new energy allocation and transmission-consumption plans.

    (3) Promote the standardized and orderly development and consumption of offshore wind power. Implement requirements for high-quality marine economic development by scientifically planning offshore wind power. Continue advancing nearshore wind power development while orderly promoting the construction of deep-sea wind power bases. Coordinate and optimize offshore transmission networks, intensively plan submarine cable corridors and landing points to achieve centralized transmission from offshore wind bases, with consumption primarily occurring in nearby coastal areas.

    (4) Scientifically and efficiently advance the development and consumption of centralized new energy within the province. Based on comprehensive consideration of resource conditions and electricity demand growth, and in line with the implementation requirements for renewable energy consumption responsibility weights, scientifically plan the layout of centralized new energy within the province. Optimize the development structure, reasonably control the pace of construction, strengthen the development of regulation capabilities, enhance the grid's carrying capacity, and ensure the efficient consumption of new energy. Conduct pilot surveys of new energy resources.

    (5) Actively expand the development and consumption space for distributed new energy. Fully tap the potential of distributed new energy resources and broaden development scenarios. Enhance the self-regulation capabilities of distributed new energy and increase the proportion of self-generation for self-consumption. Revise the grid connection capacity assessment standards for distributed new energy to release the available capacity of public grids for accepting distributed new energy.

    III. Vigorously Promote the Innovative Development of New Models and Business Forms for New Energy Consumption

    (6) Innovate integrated development models for new energy. Research and formulate policy measures to promote integrated new energy development, supporting regions rich in new energy resources such as desert, grassland, and wasteland areas to strengthen coordination across the upstream and downstream industrial chains and establish integrated industrial systems. Enhance the application of green electricity in new energy equipment manufacturing to achieve “green power generating green power.” Coordinate the layout of integrated industries for the production, storage, transportation, and utilization of green fuels such as green hydrogen, ammonia, and alcohol to create “flexible loads.” Advance the construction of zero-carbon industrial parks.

    (VII) Promote the integrated development of new energy and industries. Actively advance the coordinated alignment of industrial transfer from eastern regions with local consumption of new energy resources in production bases, while steadily and orderly facilitating the relocation of energy-intensive industries to western regions with clean energy advantages. Encourage traditional industries to innovate production processes and enhance load flexibility, increasing the use of new energy in thermal power, heating, cooling, and power generation. Support regions rich in new energy resources to integrate strategic emerging industries such as information technology, high-end equipment manufacturing, and new materials with new energy development. Strengthen the coordinated planning and optimized operation of new energy and computing facilities to promote the green development of computing infrastructure.

    (8) Support the development of new models for local consumption of new energy. Promote the healthy and sustainable development of new models for local consumption, including integrated generation-grid-load-storage systems, direct green power connections, smart microgrids, and new energy integration into incremental distribution networks. Support local access for new energy to enhance green power consumption in industrial parks, buildings, export-oriented enterprises, and high-energy-consuming enterprises, while improving power supply security in remote areas. Develop and refine supportive policies, management systems, and technical standards by category. Strengthen coordination with grid planning, clarify safety, economic, and social responsibility boundaries with the public grid, enhance self-balancing and self-regulation capabilities, and exclude curtailed renewable energy from statistical calculations.

    IV. Enhance the Adaptability of the New Power System to Renewable Energy

    (9) Accelerate the enhancement of system regulation capabilities. Actively promote the construction of leading reservoir power stations in river basins and the expansion and capacity upgrades of hydropower facilities. Expedite the construction of pumped storage power stations to fully leverage their multiple functions, including peak shaving and valley filling. Vigorously advance the development of technologically advanced, safe, and efficient new energy storage systems, tap into the regulation potential of storage facilities paired with new energy sources, and improve utilization levels. Appropriately deploy peak-shaving gas-fired power plants. Construct concentrated solar power plants based on local conditions. Advance the transformation and upgrading of next-generation coal-fired power plants, promoting the replacement of coal-fired captive power plants by new energy sources. Fully leverage the role of virtual power plants in aggregating load-side regulation resources and expand the scaled application of vehicle-to-grid interaction.

    (10) Enhance the grid's capacity to accommodate new energy. Accelerate the construction of a new grid platform featuring coordination among main, distribution, and micro grids to enhance grid carrying capacity. Optimize national power flow patterns, further expand the scope of new energy resource allocation, and steadily increase the scale of inter-provincial and inter-regional transmission channels. Fully leverage the complementary characteristics of inter-regional and inter-provincial balancing resources and renewable energy output. Rationally deploy flexible grid interconnection projects to enhance mutual support capabilities. Strengthen the construction of the main grid framework to improve grid integration capacity for renewable energy. Vigorously promote the construction, renovation, and intelligent upgrading of distribution grids to accelerate the development of new distribution systems capable of accommodating large-scale distributed renewable energy. Promote the coordinated development of smart microgrids and the main grid based on local conditions.

    (XI) Optimize new energy control models. Establish a new power dispatch system to clarify the regulatory relationships and responsibilities among dispatch agencies, grid levels, centralized new energy sources, and distributed new energy sources. Strengthen municipal and county-level dispatch agencies to comprehensively enhance observability, measurability, controllability, and intelligent regulation capabilities. Explore coordinated control models for clusters of desert/gobi/wasteland renewable energy bases, hydro-wind-solar bases, and offshore wind bases. Accelerate the integration of renewable energy output curves with on-site energy storage systems. Revise power dispatch management systems and strengthen oversight of power dispatch operations.

    (12) Enhance safety governance for the new power system. Strengthen grid security and stability analysis during the planning phase of renewable energy bases and management during the operational phase. Deepening operational risk management for active distribution grids, establishing robust risk identification and monitoring control systems. Improving safety management systems for new energy and novel grid-connected entities, strengthening full-cycle control of grid-related safety performance and parameters, strictly enforcing grid-related performance evaluation procedures, standardizing grid connection and operational management, and enhancing cybersecurity controls.

    V. Improving the National Unified Power Market System to Promote New Energy Integration

    (13）Expanding a Multi-tiered Market-based System for New Energy Integration. Adapt to the fluctuating output characteristics of new energy by shortening medium- and long-term trading cycles, enabling flexible and continuous transactions. Promote multi-year power purchase agreement mechanisms to stabilize long-term consumption capacity. Fully leverage the functions of spot markets, enhance coordination with demand response mechanisms, and guide system regulation resources to actively participate in adjustments. Improve user-side participation mechanisms in spot market transactions to unlock flexible regulation potential. Rationally design power ancillary service trading categories and refine cost-pass-through mechanisms to users, ensuring stable system operation during the large-scale development of new energy. Interprovincial medium-to-long-term transactions should solidify the “foundation” for cross-provincial renewable energy consumption, while interprovincial spot transactions and intra-regional mutual support transactions should flexibly respond to short-term consumption demands, advancing regularized renewable energy transactions across grid operating areas.

    (14) Improve the rule system for renewable energy participation in power markets. Promote the establishment of trading rules for integrated participation by desert, grassland, and wasteland renewable energy bases, as well as hydro, wind, and solar power bases. Support new market participants such as distributed renewable energy, energy storage, and virtual power plants to engage in the power market through aggregation and direct trading models; explore enabling renewable energy producers and consumers to participate in direct trading across provincial and regional power markets; promote the development of market-based pricing mechanisms aligned with the characteristics and distribution patterns of renewable energy generation. Refine power market mechanisms such as price caps to fully leverage price signals in guiding renewable energy consumption. Actively advance the high-quality development of the green certificate market, promote synergy among electricity, certificates, and carbon markets, and scientifically reflect the environmental value of renewable energy.

    (15) Innovate price mechanisms to promote new energy consumption. Establish and improve cross-provincial and cross-regional pricing formation and adjustment mechanisms for new energy transmission, encouraging integrated pricing for all power sources in new energy export bases. Enhance the flexibility of cross-provincial and cross-regional transmission pricing mechanisms and study pricing mechanisms for offshore wind power transmission projects. Implement and refine electricity pricing mechanisms that promote local consumption of new energy. Improve capacity pricing mechanisms for regulating resources such as coal-fired power, pumped storage, and new energy storage. Accelerate the effective transmission of market price signals to end users, refine retail market pricing mechanisms reflecting time-of-use value differentials, and study the establishment of a robust residential time-of-use pricing mechanism.

    VI. Strengthen Technological Innovation Support for New Energy Integration

    (16) Breakthroughs in Efficient New Energy Generation and Utilization Technologies. Intensify R&D on high-efficiency, low-cost photovoltaic and wind power technologies, and pilot the construction of ultra-high-power offshore wind turbines. Accelerate improvements in power forecasting accuracy for renewable energy across ultra-short-term, short-term, and medium-to-long-term time scales.

    (17) Tackle system flexibility regulation technologies. Innovatively apply multiple technical approaches such as flow batteries, compressed air energy storage, and gravity storage to accelerate breakthroughs in large-capacity, long-duration energy storage technologies. Promote variable-speed regulation capabilities in newly constructed pumped storage power stations. Deepen the application of virtual power plant coordination control technologies and diversified trading technologies, while expanding the use of new flexible load regulation technologies. Accelerate pilot application and promotion of next-generation coal-fired power technologies.

    (18) Strengthen grid operation technologies. Enhance research on efficient simulation and stable operation control technologies for power systems with high renewable energy penetration and high power electronics equipment density. Pilot test ultra-high voltage flexible DC transmission for high-penetration renewable energy, large-capacity high-voltage offshore flexible DC submarine cable transmission, and multi-terminal DC islanding operation technologies. Improve power collection and weak export system stability technologies for renewable energy bases. Promote grid-forming control technologies to enhance renewable energy's grid-interconnection performance and active support capabilities. Expedite revisions to renewable energy grid-connection technical standards.

    (19) Upgrade intelligent dispatch technologies. Accelerate the application of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing in coordinating main, distribution, and microgrids. Promote the application of state-sensing technologies to enhance the grid's dynamic perception of distributed resources. Accelerate the application of aggregated control technologies for massive sources, grids, loads, and storage resources, and improve coordinated dispatch technologies for renewable energy bases.

    VII. Safeguard Measures

    (20) Optimize the management mechanism for new energy consumption. Strengthen the guiding role of planning by setting tiered new energy utilization rate targets for different regions in the five-year power development plan. Scientifically coordinate new energy development with consumption, and synergistically advance the planning and layout of new energy alongside supporting grid and regulation capacity construction. Improve new energy consumption assessment methods, promoting a gradual shift from a single new energy utilization rate indicator to a comprehensive evaluation indicator system. Provincial-level energy authorities shall scientifically formulate annual renewable energy utilization targets and three-year outlooks for their jurisdictions, specifying annual development and consumption plans. Based on utilization targets and renewable energy consumption responsibility weight targets, they shall coordinate the determination of annual grid-connected renewable energy (including distributed renewable energy) development capacity. Implement minimum renewable energy consumption targets by accelerating the establishment of a green certificate consumption mechanism combining mandatory and voluntary consumption, further solidifying renewable energy consumption responsibilities.

    (XXI) Clarify Responsibilities. The National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration shall coordinate the advancement of new energy consumption and regulation, guiding provinces to optimize new energy utilization rate targets and development scales. Provincial-level energy authorities shall serve as the primary entities responsible for ensuring new energy consumption within their jurisdictions, comprehensively organizing and implementing all consumption measures to achieve consumption targets. Power grid companies shall be the primary entities responsible for ensuring new energy grid connection and operational control, continuously strengthening grid construction and optimizing system operations. Power generation companies shall enhance the reliable substitution capacity of new energy and strengthen the development of regulating resources. All types of business entities shall actively participate in power system interactions.

    (XXII) Strengthen Monitoring, Supervision, and Target Implementation. Optimize the statistics and publication of new energy utilization rates, and improve the management measures for monitoring and statistics of new energy utilization rates as needed. Provincial-level energy authorities shall establish a full-cycle monitoring and early-warning mechanism for new energy covering “planning-construction-grid connection-consumption.” They shall promptly analyze regional new energy consumption status. Regions experiencing significant declines in new energy utilization rates or failing to meet utilization targets shall scientifically evaluate new grid connection scales to prevent substantial drops in utilization rates. Dispatch offices of the National Energy Administration shall conduct routine oversight of policy implementation for new energy consumption and regulation, reporting major issues promptly.