China Issues Policy Guidelines to Integrate Coal Power and New Energy

Xinhua News Agency reported that China's National Energy Administration recently issued implementation opinions on promoting the integrated development of coal power and new energy. The policy document specifies that by the end of the planned period, integrated operational models between coal power and new energy should be maturely applied, and integrated projects should achieve annual carbon emission levels that are significantly reduced compared to their state prior to transformation and construction. Targeting collaborative development, the official guidelines outline typical integration scenarios. These models include connecting new energy directly to nearby public coal power units for joint transmission and consumption, connecting new energy directly to nearby public combined heat and power coal units for clean heating, linking offshore wind power directly to coastal public coal units, bundling nearby new energy with captive coal power units, and directly connecting on-site or nearby new energy to a coal plant's internal energy systems to achieve green substitution for the plant's own consumption. The implementation opinions also set out clear technical requirements covering carbon reduction retrofits, grid connection methods, grid-related performance, metering, and technological innovation. For energy conservation and carbon reduction retrofits, the document calls for creating room for new energy consumption by upgrading regulation capacity, installing energy and heat storage systems, increasing transmission system capacity, and building new energy facilities on-site or nearby. Regarding grid connection, integrated projects must establish clear physical boundaries and liability divisions with public power grids while bearing related expenses fairly.