Energy safety has once again been put under the
spotlight at the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) 2022 Annual Conference held
from April 20 to 22.
The BFA recommends in a new report, Sustainable
Development: Asia and the World Annual Report 2022, that Asian
countries, while phasing out coal-fired power plants, need to ensure
energy security, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the
Russia-Ukraine conflict.
In the BFA session "Promoting Energy Integration and
Building a Green World," experts discussed how governments can pool
resources to ensure a safe transition to low-carbon societies.
Liu Jizhen, an academic from the Chinese Academy of
Engineering and a panelist of the session, explained how resource
management can work on different levels. The first is "energy
complementarity," which means tapping into a diversity of energy sources
in order to balance the use of renewable energy with conventional power
supply. The second is "supply and demand interaction," whereby demand
and supply can be better coordinated though technology and market
regulation.
China has pledged to peak carbon dioxide emissions by
2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. The country expects that
energy safety in the carbon-reducing process can be protected through
technology advancements and comprehensive designs on green governance.
Boosting renewable energy
The ultimate goal is to wean the economy off "dirty"
energy while avoiding choking off the growth in the progress. The
solution is to let the increase of renewable energy capacity outrun the
withdrawal of conventional supply.
To that end, China has invested heavily in renewable
energy over the years. Bloomberg statistics show that China's investment
in energy transition has increased 60 percent year on year, reaching
$266 billion in 2021 and placing China at the top of international
rankings.
With this increased investment, China's installed
renewable energy capacity exceeded the 1,000-gigawatt (GW) milestone in
2021. The country's solar power plants had generated 54.9 GWs more
electricity in 2021 than the previous year, setting a world record,
according to national statistics. Contribution by wind power to national
energy consumption had reached 328 GWs last year, ranking first in the
world for the 12th consecutive year.
Enhancing the domestic energy market
Facing risks inherent in global trade integration,
China has also recently issued a guideline to optimize the national
market that particularly stresses the need for a "unified energy
market." Where local protectionism remains an entrenched issue over
inter-provincial energy distribution, the central government's effort to
clean electricity usage is trailing. A unified energy market established
with standardized national trading in the key areas of oil, gas,
electricity and coal can help introduce green power to the regions of
"old chimney" and bring down the cost of doing so.
China's National Energy Administration's 2022 energy
target has outlined the need to enhance energy security in domestic
production. The targets include: a steady increase in the national
production of crude oil and natural gas, respectively to 200 million
tonnes and 214 billion cubic meters; an increase in peak power
generation capacity to more than 80 GWs; and strengthening the
supplemental role of coal power at energy peak demand.
These targets will help cushion the risks from the
international trade environment and maintain a steady national supply of
energy.
Source: CGTN |