Promoting the Construction of a Strong Energy Country Through Multi-dimensional Efforts

This year marks the inaugural year of the 15th Five-Year Plan. The Government Work Report proposes to "formulate the outline for the construction of a strong energy country" and mandates efforts to "strive to build a new power system, accelerate the development of smart power grids, advance new energy storage, and expand the application of green electricity".

The development of a strong energy country is a natural extension of the new energy security strategy of the "Four Revolutions and One Cooperation". Building on this strategy, it is a major strategic deployment formulated in response to changes in the external environment, based on China's domestic energy development level and the needs of modernization drive. At present, the profound changes unseen in a century in the world are evolving at an accelerated pace, with scientific and technological revolutions intertwined with great-power games, the global energy supply and demand pattern undergoing profound reshaping, and the pace of the global energy transition towards green and low-carbon development picking up speed. All these factors have made the construction of a strong energy country even more significant.

We will advance the development of a strong energy country through coordinated multi-dimensional efforts: reshape the energy supply and demand pattern through structural optimization, drive industrial upgrading through technological innovation, ensure a steady and orderly transition through modernized governance, comprehensively improve the overall efficiency of the energy system, speed up the construction of a new energy system, and provide reliable energy support for Chinese-style modernization.

Structural Optimization: Forging a New Pattern of Coordinated Supply and Demand and Multi-Energy Complementation

To accelerate the construction of a new energy system, we must push for a shift in the energy supply structure from fossil energy dominance to non-fossil energy dominance, realize a full green and low-carbon transformation of energy consumption modes, and improve the efficiency of resource allocation by optimizing spatial layout.

Strengthen cross-regional coordination and infrastructure interconnection. Establish and improve a regional coordination mechanism featuring integrated planning, policy synergy and market linkage, and accelerate the development of a unified national energy market system. Speed up the construction of cross-regional power transmission channels such as the West-East Power Transmission Project, improve the layout of trunk oil and gas pipelines, promote the in-depth collaborative development of energy storage facilities and new power grid platforms, and build an extensive, structurally robust and highly efficient energy infrastructure network. This will enhance the capacity for cross-regional energy mutual support and guarantee, and underpin the intensive development of large-scale clean energy bases and the optimal allocation of clean energy nationwide. Innovate cooperation models between energy-rich regions and load centers, improve the cross-regional benefit-sharing mechanism, and form a development pattern characterized by "scientific resource development, efficient energy transmission and effective demand satisfaction".

Further advance the green and low-carbon transformation of energy consumption. Implement special actions for electricity substitution in key sectors: promote the application of technologies such as electric boilers, electric kilns and industrial heat pumps in the industrial sector; accelerate the development of ultra-low energy consumption buildings and building-integrated photovoltaics in the construction sector; expand the scale of new energy vehicle application and improve the layout of charging and swapping networks in the transportation sector; and foster new models such as zero-carbon factories and zero-carbon parks. Embed conservation and intensive utilization throughout the entire energy development process, resolutely curb energy waste and unreasonable consumption, implement the dual control system for total carbon emissions and emission intensity, comprehensively improve energy utilization efficiency, and build a green and low-carbon energy consumption system.

Build a new power system adapted to a high proportion of new energy. Promote the digital and intelligent upgrading of power grids, develop smart distribution grids and flexible microgrids, and enhance the grid's capacity to absorb distributed energy and its level of coordinated control. Tap into the regulatory potential on the demand side, improve the market-oriented demand response mechanism, and boost the large-scale application of virtual power plants. Make scientific plans for the layout of pumped storage power stations, actively develop new energy storage, and promote the optimal combination of new energy and regulating power sources. Strengthen the coordinated interaction among all links of generation, grid, load and storage, and enhance the complementary support capacity and security resilience of the power system.

Strengthen the alignment of energy planning with territorial spatial planning, ecological protection planning and other related plans. Adhere to the "integration of multiple plans" and incorporate the spatial demand for energy infrastructure into the unified map of territorial spatial planning. Strictly implement requirements such as the ecological protection red line, the bottom line of environmental quality, the upper limit of resource utilization and the ecological and environmental access list, and implement ecological protection measures in parallel throughout the planning, construction and operation of energy projects. Enhance the disaster resilience of energy infrastructure.

Technological Innovation: Cultivating New Advantages of Independent Controllability and Leading Development

High-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement is the strategic cornerstone of building a strong energy country. We will uphold self-reliance and self-improvement through opening up and cooperation, focus on the needs of the green and low-carbon transition, break through key core technologies, foster new productive forces in the energy sector, and seize the commanding heights of global energy science and technology competition.

Launch an initiative to tackle cutting-edge low-carbon technologies. Make systematic plans for the integrated development of "artificial intelligence + energy" and promote the innovative application of energy big data and industrial large models. Strengthen the R&D and engineering demonstration of the entire industrial chain technologies for hydrogen production, storage, transportation and utilization, and advance the large-scale application of low-cost green hydrogen. Accelerate the R&D and industrial application of new energy storage technologies, and promote the coordinated development of multi-time-scale energy storage technologies. Steadily advance the R&D and pilot demonstration of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies, and explore paths for their large-scale application. Promote the multi-energy complementary development of new energy bases in desert, Gobi and wasteland areas. Implement new infrastructure projects such as computing-electricity synergy, and explore the construction of integrated new energy development bases for wind, solar, hydrogen, ammonia and alcohol. Make forward-looking layouts for disruptive cutting-edge technologies such as nuclear fusion, advanced nuclear energy and deep-sea energy, build national-level R&D platforms, and strive to achieve strategic and forward-looking breakthroughs.

Strengthen the industrial support capacity of energy technologies and equipment. Implement projects to address weaknesses and strengthen strong points in energy technologies and equipment, focus on key components, core materials and special software, accelerate the process of domestic substitution, and improve the independent and controllable level of the industrial and supply chains. Consolidate and enhance China's leading advantages in industries such as wind power, photovoltaic power generation and new energy vehicles. Build a number of industrial demonstration bases for energy technology industrialization, promote the in-depth integration of the innovation chain, industrial chain, capital chain and talent chain, and accelerate the transformation of scientific and technological achievements into real productive forces.

Build a collaborative innovation system integrating industry, academia, research and application. Strengthen the dominant position of enterprises in scientific and technological innovation, support leading enterprises in the sector to take the lead in forming innovation consortia, undertake major national science and technology projects, and tackle key core technologies. Improve the mechanisms for training, introducing, employing and incentivizing talents in the energy sector, and cultivate more strategic scientists, first-class scientific and technological leaders and innovation teams. Deepen international cooperation in energy science and technology, proactively integrate into the global innovation network, and enhance China's influence and voice in the global energy innovation landscape.

Modernized Governance: Improving a New System with Effective Markets, Capable Government and Social Participation

Promoting the modernization of the energy governance system and governance capacity requires the joint efforts of an effective market and a capable government, as well as active participation of all social sectors, to ensure the green and low-carbon transition proceeds in a steady, orderly and sustainable manner.

Deepen market-oriented energy reform. Improve the unified national power market system, and perfect the coordinated operation mechanism of medium and long-term transactions, spot transactions and auxiliary service markets. Deepen the reform of the oil and gas system. Improve the coal market system, and establish a sound coordinated guarantee mechanism for production, supply, storage and marketing. Promote the orderly connection of the power market, green certificate market and carbon market.

Improve the legal and regulatory system for the energy sector. Push forward the formulation, amendment, abolition and interpretation of laws and regulations in the energy field, and promptly elevate proven effective reform measures and practices into institutional norms. Improve the energy governance system covering planning formulation, policy making, standard implementation and whole-process supervision. Strengthen the capacity building for energy supervision, innovate supervision methods and approaches, and use digital and intelligent means to improve supervision efficiency.

Improve the policy support system for the green and low-carbon transition. Optimize fiscal, taxation, pricing and financial policies that promote the development of clean energy, set up special funds for energy transition, and develop financial products and services such as green credit, green bonds and green insurance. Improve the subsidy mechanism for renewable energy, and push for the market-oriented transformation of subsidy methods. Establish and improve a monitoring and evaluation mechanism for the green and low-carbon energy transition, and incorporate the achievement of targets such as carbon emission control and non-fossil energy development into relevant assessment systems.

Elevate the level of international energy cooperation. Upholding the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, we will deepen energy partnerships under the Belt and Road Initiative, promote the interconnection of energy infrastructure, and strengthen cooperation in green energy investment, technological R&D and production capacity. Deeply participate in global energy governance, and put forward more Chinese initiatives and solutions within multilateral frameworks. Promote the internationalization of China's energy standards, support energy enterprises to "go global" with high quality, and cultivate world-class energy enterprises with global competitiveness.