China's energy regulator issues guidelines on combining coal power with new energy

China's National Energy Administration has issued an implementation opinion on promoting the integrated development of coal power and new energy. CLS, Yicai and Jiemian reported the main points from 14:39 local time on 21 October, and China News Service and Xinhua later carried the administration's account. The opinion says integration must proceed without reducing coal power's ability to support and regulate the power system, and that the new energy capacity of an integrated project must match the regulation capacity gained by upgrading the coal units. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 7 ]

It also calls for stronger carbon reduction at coal plants, better absorption of new energy with less curtailed wind and solar power, support for pilot applications of integration technology, and scenarios chosen to suit local conditions. By the end of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the opinion says, integrated scenarios should be in mature use and the projects' annual carbon emissions should be markedly lower than before retrofit and construction. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 7 ]

The opinion sets out five typical scenarios: new energy connected directly to nearby public coal units for joint delivery; new energy connected to nearby public combined heat and power coal units for clean heating; offshore wind connected to coastal public coal units; nearby new energy connected to captive coal units; and on-site or nearby new energy connected directly to a coal plant's own power-use system. In the first, third and captive-unit scenarios, Jiemian's text encourages projects to cut annual carbon emissions by more than 5% from pre-integration levels and to aim for more than 10%. [ 3 , 4 , 7 ]

On technical requirements, projects should keep a clear physical and responsibility boundary with the public grid and bear related costs fairly. They must be able to meter coal power and new energy output separately. In principle, the edge of the new energy site should be no more than 100 km in a straight line from the coal plant site, according to the text published by Jiemian. Grid stability, short-circuit current levels and power quality after grid connection must meet safety standards. The opinion also encourages research on energy storage, heat storage media such as wide-temperature molten salt, high-temperature heat pumps and electric heating equipment. [ 3 , 4 ]

In answers to reporters, an administration official said the work needs action on development models, dispatch mechanisms and funding. Projects can be developed by a single entity or a consortium and may take part in power and carbon markets. Curtailed power from new energy in integrated projects is not counted in statistics, and eligible projects can receive subsidies from central funds. Provincial energy authorities are asked to draw up detailed local policies, and grid companies are to provide connection and dispatch services. [ 4 , 6 , 8 ]

Caixin said the administration released the opinion on the evening of 21 October and linked it to the conflict between intermittent wind and solar power and the grid's regulation capacity. It reported that by the end of July, China's solar capacity reached 1.286 billion kilowatts, exceeding coal power capacity and making up 31.5% of national generating capacity, while wind capacity was 690 million kilowatts, or 16.9%. [ 8 ]