As low-carbon economy and environmental protection are included in the government's "12th Five-Year Plan", the issue of renewable energy power generation grid connection, which has been progressing slowly, has also begun to enter the mandatory stage.

The relevant person in charge of the Energy System Research Office of the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission revealed to the reporter of "Huaxia Times" that low-carbon economy and environmental protection will be included in the "12th Five-Year Plan" by the government. For this reason, the government will take some mandatory policy measures to promote the promotion and use of renewable energy and clean energy. Ren Dongming, deputy director of the Renewable Energy Development Center of the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, also said that in order to achieve the goal of clean energy accounting for 15% of the total primary energy consumption, the state will issue renewable energy grid connection and power generation quotas to power grids and power generation companies, and subsidize the construction costs of the power grid.

Forced access to the grid through a quota system

"The energy situation facing my country is very severe, and China has established the goal of low-carbon economic development. The 12th Five-Year Plan will be included in the low-carbon plan, and the goal of reducing emissions by 40%-45% in 2020 will have a comprehensive impact on the social economy. There is no doubt that energy conservation and emission reduction will be included as a binding indicator in the 12th Five-Year Plan." Jiang Kejun, director of the Energy System Research Office of the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, pointed out.

As an important support for the low-carbon economy, renewable energy power generation has been required by the government since 2007 to give priority to the acquisition of renewable energy power generation projects, including hydropower, wind power, biomass power, solar power, ocean power and geothermal power. Among them, except for large and medium-sized hydropower, renewable energy generators do not have to participate in the grid bidding, and power grid companies need to give priority to acquisition and arrange dispatch.

But the current situation is that the problem of power grid companies' unwillingness to purchase renewable energy power has not been solved.

Ren Dongming said that in order to achieve the goal of clean energy accounting for 15% of the total primary energy consumption, the country is studying and issuing a series of promotion policies to solve the problem that the power grid is unwilling to purchase electricity during the large-scale installation of wind power and solar power.

It is reported that the country will implement a quota system, that is, a full guaranteed purchase system for renewable energy power generation. At present, relevant departments are studying and formulating management measures for this quota system, which requires that a certain amount of electricity purchased by power grid companies comes from renewable energy generation, or that a certain proportion of power generation by power generation enterprises comes from renewable energy.

It is said that both the State Grid and the Southern Power Grid will bear the relevant renewable energy power generation quotas, and then distribute these quotas to provincial or regional power grid companies, and then distribute them downward. The state will set up a renewable energy development fund, from which a certain amount will be drawn to subsidize power grid construction.

Grid connection ratio will rise to 15%

In addition to issuing mandatory policies to ensure the grid connection of renewable energy power generation, the government will also clarify the grid connection ratio of renewable energy power generation.

As early as September 2009, President Xi Jinping proposed at the United Nations Climate Change Summit that China will vigorously develop renewable energy and nuclear energy, and strive to achieve a non-fossil energy share of about 15% of primary energy consumption by 2020. According to the existing plan, the proportion of non-fossil energy in energy consumption will reach 10% in 2010.

According to Meng Xiangan, vice president of the China Renewable Energy Society, 15% is exactly the target for the proportion of clean energy in my country's total primary energy consumption, and according to the plan, this target will be broken down. Among them, hydropower accounts for about 8%, nuclear power accounts for about 4%, and solar power and wind power account for about 3%. The specific planning goals are: hydropower installed capacity reaches 300 million kilowatts, nuclear power installed capacity reaches 80 million kilowatts, wind power reaches 150 million kilowatts, and photovoltaic power generation reaches 20 million kilowatts. At the same time, in 2020, clean energy will account for 15% of the total primary energy consumption in my country. By 2030, clean energy will become an important alternative energy source, and by 2050, clean energy will become the main energy source.

It is reported that the above plan has been reported, but has not yet been approved.

"If the 15% target is to be achieved, the government will also invest relevant funds to solve the technical difficulties of energy storage and large-scale grid connection of intermittent renewable energy such as wind and solar energy." An expert from the Macroeconomics Office of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences told reporters.

    Government sets up fund subsidies

In addition to the government's determination to develop renewable energy in terms of policy, it also plans to arrange more financial support for this field.

According to Ren Dongming, the Ministry of Finance has drafted the collection and management methods of the "Renewable Energy Fund". The government hopes to support smart grids, off-grid power generation in remote areas and various new technology research and development through this fund. The method may be released in the near future.

It is reported that the fund will share the cost of the power grid's acquisition of renewable energy electricity, so that the power grid will have the motivation to complete the acquisition. Its funding sources include special funds arranged by the national fiscal year and additional income from renewable energy electricity prices collected in accordance with the law.

Xu Huaqing, director of the Energy Environment and Climate Change Research Center of the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, also revealed that the proportion of renewable energy connected to the grid has increased from 10% to 15%. It is necessary to strengthen the power grid and improve the self-regulation ability of the power grid to reduce and overcome its intermittent defects. Therefore, the government will subsidize the investment in upgrading the power grid.

According to the data provided by Jiang Kejun, in these areas, as of 2008, the national investment in technology research and development has reached 38 billion, while the United States' investment in research and development is also 38 billion US dollars.

"At present, coal costs account for more than 2/3 of the cost structure of thermal power, but the continuous soaring of coal prices in recent years has led to the continuous increase in the operating pressure of the thermal power industry, excessive asset-liability ratio, and even continuous losses. The increase in the proportion of renewable energy power generation will also help alleviate the contradiction between coal and electricity under the background of the continuous strengthening of energy resource prices, and help the government to further promote electricity price reform and rationalize the electricity price transmission mechanism." An expert from the Macroeconomics Office of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences told reporters.

The relevant person in charge of the China Electricity Council believes that with the increase in the proportion of renewable energy power generation in the power grid, it will also be beneficial for China to transform its power structure from over-reliance on coal power to increasing the proportion of non-fossil energy, continuously increase the proportion of clean energy, and accelerate the development of nuclear power and other renewable energy power generation while efficiently developing my country's hydropower resources.