As an important lever for promoting high-quality development of new energy in China during the 14th Five Year Plan period, the construction of large-scale wind and photovoltaic power generation bases with a focus on deserts, Gobi, and desert areas is accelerating. The list of the third batch of base projects has recently been officially issued and implemented.
It is worth noting that the construction of supporting facilities for the current large base still needs to be accelerated. The relevant departments urge the acceleration of progress and require that the large base be completed and connected to the grid on schedule. Industry insiders predict that, with increased policy supply, wind and photovoltaic power will continue to maintain high prosperity in 2023, while the newly installed capacity of electrochemical energy storage power stations will show significant growth.
1. Gradual landing of large-scale base projects
At the edge of the Maowusu sandy land, undulating photovoltaic panels are neatly arranged, continuously converting solar energy into electricity. Not far away, forklifts shuttle back and forth, and workers nervously install. This “blue ocean” map is still expanding.
As one of the first large-scale wind and photovoltaic base projects in the country, the 2 million kilowatt composite photovoltaic base project of Ningxia Power Company of the State Energy Group achieved grid connected power generation in the first phase at the end of last year. Recently, the first batch of array grid connected projects in the second phase were successful, and the next 500000 kilowatt project is also accelerating, which will be grid connected power generation by the end of June this year.
To achieve the goals of peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality, while maintaining the bottom line of energy security, we require green and low-carbon development to adhere to the principle of “establishing first and then breaking through”, and prioritize improving the supply capacity of new energy.
As a top priority for the development of new energy during the 14th Five Year Plan period, the construction of large-scale wind and photovoltaic bases with a focus on deserts, Gobi, and desert areas continues to advance, with a total scale of 455 million kilowatts. Wang Dapeng, Deputy Director of the New Energy and Renewable Energy Department of the National Energy Administration, said that as of now, the first batch of 97.05 million kilowatt base projects have fully started construction, and the project grid connection work is actively being promoted. We strive to complete the construction and grid connection before the end of this year, and the second batch of base projects have started construction gradually. The list of the third batch of base projects has been officially issued and implemented recently.
The promotion of large-scale base construction has driven the continuous expansion of wind and photovoltaic installed capacity. As of the end of March this year, the cumulative installed power generation capacity in China was about 2.62 billion kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 9.1%. Among them, the installed capacity of wind power is about 380 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 11.7%; The installed capacity of solar power generation is about 430 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 33.7%.
From January to March, major power generation enterprises in China completed an investment of 126.4 billion yuan in power engineering, a year-on-year increase of 55.2%. Among them, solar power generation reached 52.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 177.6%; Wind power reached 24.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15%.
2. Accelerate the construction of supporting facilities
As the large-scale base projects gradually land, the construction progress of supporting facilities is also accelerating.
The reporter from Economic Reference News learned in an interview that the transmission project and energy storage facilities are important links affecting the large-scale grid connection and consumption of new energy, and are of great significance for building a more flexible and efficient new power system. Among them, new energy storage represented by electrochemistry has the characteristics of fast regulation speed, flexible layout, and short construction period, and is an important supporting infrastructure for the current construction of large bases.
Many places have proposed requirements such as a 20% energy storage scale for the construction of clean energy bases, and a batch of new energy storage power stations are being planned and constructed. For example, the first batch of large-scale photovoltaic projects of National Energy Group Ningxia Electric Power Co., Ltd. are using 9.28 million kilowatts of clean coal-fired power for peak shaving, while the 200000 kilowatt/400000 kilowatt hour shared energy storage project is also being intensively installed and debugged. As of now, the first phase of 100000 kilowatt/200000 kilowatt hour energy storage power stations has been partially connected to the grid.
However, it is worth noting that due to factors such as changes in the market environment, lack of industry standards, immature business models, and incomplete pricing mechanisms, some enterprises currently have low enthusiasm for energy storage allocation. Some energy storage projects have lagged behind in construction progress, and existing projects also have low utilization rates.
Recently, the National Energy Administration held a video conference on the analysis of the national renewable energy development and construction situation in April 2023, pointing out that some projects have not prepared access plans, and some projects need to be further accelerated in construction. In addition, the construction progress of electrochemical energy storage and peak shaving facilities supporting large-scale wind and photovoltaic bases is relatively slow. We need to further strengthen our responsibilities, clarify the time limit for rectification, and ensure that the large base is built and connected to the grid on schedule.
3. Increased supply of new energy policies
The National Energy Administration stated that it will continue to increase policy supply, take measures to promote the construction of major renewable energy projects, and maintain a good development momentum. To benchmark against the world’s most advanced level, research and propose measures to consolidate the leading development of new and renewable energy. We should actively encourage innovation in new formats and scenarios, and continuously promote the high-quality development of new energy.
Wang Dapeng revealed that the next step will be to adhere to both centralized and distributed approaches, while actively promoting the construction of large-scale bases. At the same time, he will organize and carry out the “Thousand Households, Thousand Villages, and Thousand Towns to Control the Wind Action”. At the same time, actively adapting to the new requirements of the transformation from “dual control” of energy consumption to “dual control” of carbon emissions and intensity, improving the green power certificate system, expanding the scope of green certificate issuance and trading, promoting full coverage of green certificate issuance, and promoting the formation of a green and low-carbon production and lifestyle. In addition, we will promote the revision of the Renewable Energy Law to provide strong legal guarantees for the high-quality and leapfrog development of renewable energy.
According to the 2023 Energy Work Guidelines, the installed capacity of wind and photovoltaic power will increase by about 160 million kilowatts throughout the year. The proportion of wind and photovoltaic power generation to the total social electricity consumption has reached 15.3%.
It is reported that the National Energy Administration is organizing research and development of planning technical guidelines for large-scale wind and solar power bases and new energy storage facilities for power transmission. At the same time, it is necessary to thoroughly demonstrate the plan of sending out five inter provincial power transmission channels in the desert and Gobi desert areas.
While improving the standard system, industry insiders suggest optimizing energy storage configuration and transportation methods to enhance energy storage utilization levels; Further improve policies such as energy storage participating in the peak auxiliary service market, capacity leasing, and capacity compensation.
Liu Yongdong, Deputy Secretary General of the China Electricity Council, stated that based on the unchanged growth rate of new energy distribution and storage in 2022, an estimated 5.62GW of new energy distribution and storage will be added in 2023. Considering various factors such as the growth of grid side energy storage stations and possible relaxation of user side energy storage station restrictions by local governments, it is expected that the new installed capacity of electrochemical energy storage stations will show an explosive growth trend in 2023.
Yue Fen, Deputy Secretary General of the Zhongguancun Energy Storage Industry Technology Alliance, predicts that under conservative scenarios, the total installed capacity of new energy storage will reach 97.0 GW in the next five years, with a compound annual growth rate of 49.30%; In an ideal scenario, the total installed capacity of new energy storage will reach 138.4GW in the next five years, with a compound annual growth rate of 60.29%.