Smart grid to be widely promoted before 2015

As one of China's seven emerging strategic industries, the new energy industry is of great significance for optimizing the industrial structure and realizing industrial upgrading in China. At the second China (Wuxi) New Energy Conference held at the weekend, government officials, experts, scholars, and business people conducted in-depth interpretation and analysis of China's new energy policies, trends, and issues.

One of the keys to China's development of new energy is grid-connected power generation, and one of the best places for grid-connected power is the smart grid. At the 2nd China (Wuxi) New Energy Conference held last week, Jiang Liping, vice president of the State Grid Energy Research Institute, revealed during an exclusive interview with the reporter that the State Grid Corporation hopes to have mature and successful intelligence before 2015. The practice of power grid pilots is widely promoted, and the minimum grid connection standard for renewable energy is currently being discussed.

She said that smart grids have indeed received the attention of the government, and related companies have also invested a lot, but there is not yet a national-level strategic plan. At present, it is still only under the framework of the State Grid Corporation of China.

“Up to now, we have implemented two pilot projects and are currently analyzing and evaluating the effectiveness of the first batch of projects. Based on the results of the assessment, we have to compare some mature and successful practices before 2015. We will carry out large-scale promotion and application. From 2015 to 2020, it will be a national construction phase. We hope to build a smart grid in about 2020.” Jiang Liping said.

At the same time, she also disclosed that the National Energy Administration has also specifically listed a topic in the "12th Five-Year Plan of Energy" - "Study on China's Smart Grid Development Model," but the topic has not yet been formally concluded. Next, how to go from the national level remains to be seen.

In addition, according to Jiang Liping, a renewable energy grid-connected standard, the State Grid Corporation's original requirements for network access standards are relatively low, and the minimum standards for grid-connected networks are currently under discussion, which will become the minimum threshold for renewable energy grid integration in the future. At the same time, she suggested that the government should introduce some incentives and penalties, rewarding tax revenues for renewable projects that are much higher than the standard, and punishing projects that exceed a certain margin of error.

"Renewable energy is still in its "puberty" period, but it is slowly going to enter the "adults" stage. It must be more disciplined and somewhat constrained," added Li Junfeng, deputy director of the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission.

Analysts pointed out that if China promotes the smart grid in a large scale before 2015, it will require the country to vigorously construct the UHV backbone network and start the grid automation market on this basis. By then, there will be a huge space for secondary power equipment, and the transmission grid automation control and integrated dispatch system will become a hot spot in the market.

“Overall, the acceleration of UHV construction will bring large orders to high-end power transmission and transformation equipment companies. With the start of pilot projects, the capital market will be more optimistic about the business prospects of secondary equipment companies. Therefore, the most optimistic about XJ Electric, Pinggao Electric, State Power Nanru and other leading companies can share the UHV cake." The above said.