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The second meeting of the Central Committee for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms, held on the afternoon of July 11, deliberated and adopted documents including the Guiding Opinions on Deepening Power System Reform and Accelerating the Construction of a New Power System.

The meeting pointed out that it is necessary to deepen power system reform and accelerate the construction of a new power system that is clean and low-carbon, safe and sufficient, economically efficient, coordinated in supply and demand, and flexible and intelligent, to better promote the revolution in energy production and consumption and safeguard national energy security. The meeting emphasized the need to scientifically and rationally design the construction path of the new power system, and on the basis of safe and reliable substitution of new energy, gradually reduce the proportion of traditional energy in a planned and step-by-step manner. It is necessary to improve the institutional mechanisms that adapt to the new power system, and promote strengthening of technological innovation, market mechanism innovation, and business model innovation in the power sector. It is necessary to promote a better combination of effective markets and a capable government, continuously improve the policy system, and provide basic public services in electricity.

Scientific and rational design of the construction path of the new power system

In the process of energy's clean and low-carbon transformation, the large-scale access of new energy sources such as wind power and photovoltaic power generation has brought significant challenges to the operation and control of the power system. The randomness, intermittency, and volatility of new energy sources make the power balance problem in power system planning and operation probabilistic, which to some extent reduces the reliability of power supply, and the traditional power system's single "source-follows-load" (i.e., adjusting power generation according to load changes) mode will change to a friendly interactive "source-load interaction" mode.

The stability characteristics of the power system after disturbance have evolved from being dominated by the traditional electromechanical mode to a multi-mode coupling and interactive influence of electromechanical and electromagnetic modes, and the problems of system stability analysis and control have received widespread attention. The low inertia and low short-circuit ratio characteristics of the power generation side are prominent, and the ability to support safety and stability is continuously weakened; the dynamic characteristics of the load side are becoming increasingly complex; and the coupling between AC/DC grids and multiple DC grids is becoming increasingly close.

In recent years, several large-scale power outages caused by grid equipment failures have occurred abroad, sparking heated discussions. On September 28, 2016, a statewide power outage lasting 50 hours occurred in South Australia's power grid. On August 9, 2019, a large-scale power outage in the UK affected about 1 million people. From February 15 to 19, 2021, a major power outage occurred in Texas, USA, affecting up to 4.5 million people, causing the Texas power grid to enter a level 3 emergency, with a maximum load shedding of 20 million kW and real-time market prices exceeding US$9000/(MW·h).

Therefore, to ensure a safe and reliable power supply, traditional energy sources will still need to play a supporting and regulating role for a considerable period of time. Energy transformation cannot be accomplished overnight, and can only be gradually reduced in a planned and step-by-step manner.

Improve the institutional mechanisms that adapt to the new power system

Under the "dual carbon" goals, with the access of a high proportion of intermittent renewable energy, it is necessary to improve the institutional mechanisms that adapt to the new power system. In the traditional power wholesale market design based on real-time pricing theory, due to the near-zero marginal cost of photovoltaic and wind power, the market clearing price is reduced, and even negative values appear, squeezing out traditional thermal power and nuclear power in bidding transactions based on marginal cost, making it difficult for thermal power and nuclear power to survive, leading to an imbalance in power generation structure and reducing the safety and flexibility of the power system. At the same time, the randomness, intermittency, and volatility of photovoltaic and wind power pose significant challenges to the operation and control of the power system, and the demand for system flexibility is sharply increasing, requiring sufficient economic incentives for flexible resources.

Under the "dual carbon" goals, designing a new market mechanism that correctly reflects the value of different qualities of electricity is crucial. In the new power system, flexible loads and virtual power plants, as new technologies and business models, have received widespread attention as the cornerstone of the "source-load interaction" operation mode.

Flexible loads include adjustable or transferable loads with demand resilience, electric vehicles with bidirectional adjustment capabilities, energy storage, distributed power generation, and microgrids, whose electricity consumption behavior can flexibly respond to price signals, which is an important source of power system flexibility. In large cities where power supply cannot meet the growth of electricity demand, the peak-shaving and valley-filling role of flexible loads can also play a key role in ensuring the safe operation of the power grid. With the advancement of power market reforms, the conditions for flexible loads and virtual power plants to participate in the power spot market and ancillary service market are gradually being met, and business models are gradually being formed.

Promote a better combination of effective markets and a capable government

The economy and safety of the power system are two sides of the same coin, and the economy is built on the basis of safety. Without safety, the economy of the power system cannot be discussed. For a long time, China's power system has adhered to the principle of safety first, but has not paid enough attention to economy, and the power grid operation has retained a high safety margin, and there are also phenomena of over-investment for safety. Power market reform reflects the high importance attached by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council to the efficiency and economy of the power system, opening a new chapter for the development of China's power industry and bringing unprecedented opportunities.

In the design, operation, and regulation of the power market, the safety of the power system should always be considered as a prerequisite. In non-commercial aspects of the power market, the role of planning methods (including government intervention and grid planning management) should be fully valued, allowing the "visible hand" of planning and the "invisible hand" of the market to cooperate and complement each other, giving full play to the advantages of China's power industry's predominantly public ownership and socialist market economic system.

Specifically, in situations where safety is dominant, natural monopolies, and public service sectors, it is suitable to introduce planning management; in situations where economy is dominant (efficiency first), market regulation is suitable; some sectors are between the two, and should be determined according to the specific situation. Effective markets and capable governments should clearly define their respective reasonable boundaries. Only by ensuring that government management provides good public services and ensures grid safety can market transactions be more free and smooth, and truly play a decisive role in resource allocation.

Construction of a layered and clustered new power system

The production, transmission, and consumption of electricity and energy often require various types of networks, such as power grids, heating networks, and gas networks. Since these networks essentially transmit energy, only in different forms, they are collectively referred to as energy networks. Energy networks include sub-networks of different types of energy (power grids, heating networks, gas networks, etc.), and various sub-networks are connected through energy conversion equipment (such as generators, pumps, air conditioners, and water heaters).

Due to the rapid development of information communication technology (ICT), based on the physical energy network, an information network based on traditional automation, Internet technology, and emerging technologies such as "cloud, big data, Internet of Things, mobile, intelligence, and chain" can be established to control energy production, storage, transportation, and utilization equipment. The actual operation of electricity and energy commodity transactions and value transmission form a value network. The value network is the basis of the electricity and energy pricing system and is constrained by the physical laws of the energy network. Therefore, the new energy system and the new power system will present a three-layer network architecture of "energy-information-value", and these three layers of networks are closely coupled and interconnected.

In the new power system, renewable and clean energy sources such as wind and solar power will be ubiquitous, meaning that power sources will be distributed throughout the entire power system, and the structure of the power system will undergo significant changes. Academician Yiyi Xin of Tianjin University and others proposed a hierarchical and clustered power grid architecture, namely "decomposing the system into a hierarchical structure of clusters and global coordination" and "each cluster maintains its own net power balance and local self-optimization." For clarity, this article refers to power systems with this structural characteristic as "hierarchical clustered new power systems" and further explores their operation and control issues.

The hierarchical clustered new power system also presents a three-layer network architecture of "energy-information-value" and is closely connected to other energy systems. The planning and operation problems of hierarchical clustered new power systems can be divided into three levels: physical mechanism ("energy network" level), operation control ("information network" level), and market transactions ("value network" level). It is a typical multidisciplinary cross-problem that requires joint efforts from multiple disciplines and industries to solve.

In traditional power systems, large-capacity generating units are often built in areas rich in primary energy resources and transported to load centers through ultra/extra-high voltage long-distance power transmission technology. The transition process from traditional power grids to future new power systems, based on the national "dual carbon" goals and the requirements for ensuring energy security, requires the gradual withdrawal of traditional energy based on the safe and reliable replacement of new energy. As the penetration rate of low-carbon and carbon-free energy and loads gradually increases, the transformation of the power system will be a process of establishing first and then breaking.

During the power system transformation process, power companies and other market entities will gradually increase the utilization rate of distributed power sources in the power system, especially on the user side and distribution network, and develop distributed smart grids. This means that the form and function of the distribution network will undergo significant changes, especially with the large-scale access of distributed power sources, electric vehicles, energy storage, and flexible loads.

Taking photovoltaic power generation as an example, China's total installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation has been increasing rapidly year by year. From 2016 to the present, both the newly added and cumulative installed capacities rank first in the world. To ensure stable power supply for photovoltaic ecological and agricultural photovoltaic complementary projects developed in vast deserts, Gobi areas, mining wastelands, and rural areas, their flexibility and convenience should be improved, and the impact on the planning and operation of existing power generation and transmission and distribution equipment should be significantly reduced.