China continues breaking records in electricity consumption, still aims higher

While China has constructed the world's largest power grid, its power sector needs further reform and deeper exploration into key technology to ensure sufficient and stable power supplies amid the country's green transition, industry experts said.

China should accelerate independent innovation in the power system, concentrating efforts on breakthroughs in core technologies to ensure the healthy operation of new power systems, said Shu Yinbiao, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

China's power market, after more than two decades of reform, boasts the world's largest installed capacity, but it is still necessary to step up technological innovation to further facilitate the large-scale application of clean energy nationwide, he said during the seminar on innovative development of new power systems held by the State Grid Economic and Technological Research Institute in Beijing on Friday.

Transformation of the power sector plays a critical role in facilitating the government's ambition to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, he said.

According to Wu Bing, deputy director of the electricity department at the National Energy Administration, China has currently established the world's largest electricity supply system, with the highest total installed capacity, electricity generation and electricity consumption.

Despite consistently setting new records in national electricity demand and consumption, the electricity supply-demand situation remains stable, orderly and controllable, he shared.

This has effectively ensured the economic and social development as well as the electricity needs of the people, said Wu.

Zhou Xiaoxin, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said it is equally important to develop medium-term and long-term energy storage technologies to ensure the healthy operation of the new power system.

Energy storage has become pivotal in ensuring the efficient operation of the power grid and accelerating the transition to green energy sources as China accelerates its transition to green energy, he said.

He also emphasized the importance of a large-scale energy and power transmission system and reliable distribution networks, as China vigorously facilitating the replacement of coal and oil with electricity nationwide.