In September 2020, China announced that it would increase its nationally determined contributions, adopt more effective policies and measures, strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030, and strive to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, marking the entry of the Chinese economy into a low-carbon transformation stage. The Central Economic Work Conference held in December 2020 clearly stated that "doing a good job in peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality" is one of the eight key tasks for 2021, and "we must urgently formulate an action plan for peaking carbon emissions before 2030 and support localities with conditions to take the lead in peaking emissions".

 

Carbon Peak: Refers to a historical turning point in which a region or industry's annual carbon dioxide emissions reach a historical high and then experience a plateau period before entering a sustained decline, marking the transition from an increase to a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions. The peak target includes the peak year and peak value.

 

Carbon neutrality: refers to the direct and indirect emissions of carbon dioxide from human activities in a certain region over a certain period of time (usually on an annual basis), which are offset by the carbon dioxide absorbed by the vegetation in that region, achieving "net zero emissions" of carbon dioxide.

 

Electricity, as a clean energy source, is the most widely used energy source today and plays an important role in energy production and consumption. It has great potential in promoting "carbon peak and carbon neutrality".

 

Accelerate clean substitution in the field of energy production

 

According to authoritative institutions' predictions, to achieve carbon neutrality, the consumption ratio of fossil and non fossil fuels needs to reach around 1:9. Clean energy sources such as wind and solar power have the characteristics of randomness and intermittency in power generation. Large scale development will bring problems to the power grid in terms of electricity and energy balance, as well as system safety and stable operation. Various conventional power sources are still needed to play the roles of power balance, regulation support, and energy regulation in the power system. We need to further increase our research efforts on power grid operation technology and enhance our ability to allocate power grid resources. Areas rich in clean energy are far away from load centers, and it is necessary to strengthen the construction of ultra-high voltage transmission infrastructure, especially to fully absorb the abundant hydropower resources in the southwest region through ultra-high voltage channels to East China, North China, South China and other regions. Fully utilize the existing ultra-high voltage lines to fully absorb the abundant solar and wind energy in the northwest. Intensify research on real-time generation forecasting of clean energy, carry out large-scale demand side response management of electricity, strengthen technical research in the field of source grid load storage, solve problems such as precise load control, guide users to use electricity scientifically and reasonably, reduce load peak valley difference and load demand, and achieve supply-demand balance control.

 

Promote clean substitution in the field of energy consumption

 

In 2020, China's electricity accounted for 27% of terminal energy consumption, which still lags behind developed economies and is relatively far from achieving the goals of "carbon peak and carbon neutrality". It is necessary to fully tap into the potential of electricity substitution and expand the breadth and depth of electricity substitution. In the field of public buildings, we will vigorously implement comprehensive energy services and accelerate the promotion of integrated energy services such as combined cooling, heating, and power generation, as well as thermal storage and cooling, for public buildings such as hospitals, schools, shopping malls, and office buildings. Strengthen government enterprise cooperation and collaborate with the government to create a number of demonstration projects with high promotional value. In the field of rural agriculture, we will comprehensively promote rural electrification projects, carry out electricity substitution in agricultural production, promote typical applications of full electrification such as photovoltaic greenhouses, temperature and humidity control, and electric tea making, and explore constant temperature intelligent agricultural photovoltaic complementary industrial parks for photovoltaic power generation and agricultural planting. In the field of residents' daily life, we will focus on promoting efficient electric heating and heat pump water heaters, and in communities where conditions permit, we will promote centralized cooling and heating. Develop intelligent control technology for solar water heaters and gas water heaters, achieve automatic switching between solar and gas water heater functions, and improve the practicality of solar water heaters in application fields. In the field of transportation, accelerate the coverage of port electricity, strengthen electricity guidance and services for important ports and airports, and achieve clean shore electricity in ports. Accelerate the layout of the electric vehicle industry, promote the construction of electric vehicle charging infrastructure and service capabilities, optimize the layout of township charging and swapping networks in conjunction with the national policy of new energy vehicles going to the countryside, promote the development of new energy vehicles, and serve green and low-carbon travel. Innovate new energy products, strengthen the reuse of core basic resources, accelerate the co construction and sharing of 5G, data centers, etc., avoid redundant construction, and reduce energy consumption.

 

Promote digital transformation in the energy sector

 

Digital technology, including a collection of various information technologies such as blockchain, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things, is the key to promoting energy development and accelerating energy transformation. Digital transformation is to promote the deep integration of digital technology and power business, which is an urgent need for achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality. Promote research on key technologies for hydrogen energy, advance comprehensive utilization of hydrogen energy, and accelerate deep decarbonization in the industrial sector. Build a new energy cloud platform to support grid integration and consumption, provide "one-stop" digital services for new energy construction and operation, and promote the coordinated development of the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain. Strengthen research on new energy generation technologies such as photovoltaics and wind power, carry out big data analysis such as power generation energy prediction, improve the efficiency of new energy generation, and promote clean substitution of power sources. Build an energy big data center to gather various energy data such as water, electricity, gas, heat, oil, etc., explore the value of energy data, and reduce losses in various links of power generation, transmission, transformation, and distribution. The joint energy regulatory authorities are exploring the establishment of a collaborative application system based on blockchain carbon trading and electricity trading in energy use rights, green certificates, and renewable energy consumption. The system is based on the State Grid Chain platform and features alliance chain applications, coordinating the needs of power generation and electricity consumption enterprises, providing data sharing services with participation in the electricity industry ecological alliance mechanism, studying and analyzing the correlation between carbon trading data and electricity trading data, and connecting the monitoring data declaration and data verification process related to carbon trading through blockchain technology, realizing the full process of carbon trading from emission rights acquisition, trading, circulation, to transaction performance and statistics, and storing and sharing data on the chain with trust, promoting the digital transformation of the electricity industry and the development of the digital economy.