Thermal power: abandoning light and wind, it has nothing to do with me

"Curtailment of wind and power rationing" has been a big problem plaguing China's wind power industry in recent years, the main bottleneck of further development, after a slight relief in 2014, the curtailment data in the first half of 2015 has brought this long-term chronic disease back to the public's field of vision, and increased again
.
The latest statistics released by the National Energy Administration show that in the first half of the year, the national wind power abandoned wind power 17.
5 billion kWh, an increase of 10.
1 billion kWh year-on-year; The average curtailment rate was 15.
2%, up 6.
8 percentage points
year-on-year.

Even compared with 2012, when the curtailment was at its worst, the amount of curtailment in the first quarter of this year was already half
of that year's total.
At the same time, the problem of high proportion of curtailment and power rationing is also manifesting
in local areas.
In the latest release of the "Photovoltaic Power Generation Construction Information Profile in the First Half of 2015", the National Energy Administration officially released the national curtailment data
for the first time.
Data show that the cumulative photovoltaic power generation in January ~ June was 19 billion kWh, and the abandoned solar power was about 1.
8 billion kWh, mainly in Gansu and Xinjiang
.

Meng Xiangan, vice president of the China Renewable Energy Society, believes that from the current situation, the reason for the aggravation of wind and light abandonment is not only the mismatch between new energy installations and the power grid, nor the technical problem of insufficient peak shaving capacity of thermal power units, but more importantly, the lack of overall planning of power supply and the inefficiency of system operation and management
.

Statistics show that in the first five months of this year, more than 58 million kilowatts of newly approved thermal power projects were approved; Up to now, the approved scale of thermal power projects in various places has reached 190 million kilowatts
.
"The numbers are somewhat alarming
.
Although the investment and construction of thermal power projects have a positive effect on economic growth, in the long run, it is tantamount to drinking and quenching thirst
.
Qin Haiyan, secretary general of the China Wind Energy Association, said frankly that if this momentum is not curbed, the contradiction between thermal power and new energy will become more acute
in the next few years.

The reason for the aggravation of wind and light abandonment is not only the mismatch between new energy installations and the power grid, nor is it only the technical problem of insufficient peak shaving capacity of thermal power units, but more importantly, the lack of overall planning of power supply, system operation management industry experts in the first half of this year when analyzing the situation of wind abandonment and light abandonment, in addition to the large wind, the slowdown in power demand, and the mismatch between the installed capacity and the power grid, the spearhead is pointed to the situation that China's economic development has entered a new normal and the growth rate of electricity consumption has slowed down.
The construction scale of thermal power projects in various places still maintains a high level
.
It is also proposed that the rapid growth rate of thermal power itself is the fundamental reason for the overall decline in equipment utilization hours, and it is also one of
the deep reasons for abandoning wind, light and water.

The excess installed capacity of thermal power is becoming increasingly serious, resulting in the intensification of the game of thermal power itself, and the crowding phenomenon of new energy consumption space is becoming increasingly prominent
.
There is a view that new energy sources such as wind power and photovoltaics, as intermittent energy sources, need to add thermal power as a "guaranteed capacity"
for peak shaving while their rapid growth.
In this regard, Qin Haiyan pointed out that the view of using thermal power as a "guaranteed capacity" is untenable
.
The experience of countries with good wind power development such as Germany and Denmark has long shown that a high proportion of wind power can be done, and China's Mengxi Power Grid has also repeatedly achieved that the proportion of wind power on-grid electricity in a single day accounts for more than 33%
of the total network.

From the overall level of the country, China's wind power accounts for less than 3%, and the existing regulation capacity of the power grid can fully cope with
it.

"The key is not a technical problem, but a problem of interest coordination, and the reason why the stubborn disease of curtailment and power curtailment is 'incurable' is precisely because of the 'cheese'
that has moved some people.
" Qin Haiyan said in
a word.
Under the situation of oversupply, in order to ensure the completion of the annual power generation plan and the direct power supply transaction of large users in some regions, the phenomenon
of giving priority to the purchase of fossil energy electricity at the expense of new energy on-grid electricity.
This has made the already very severe situation of wind curtailment and power cuts even worse
.

Since the beginning of this year, the situation of wind curtailment and power rationing in Gansu Province has been particularly serious
.
From the data of the first half of the year, the average utilization hours of wind power in the province was the lowest in the country, only 699 hours, a year-on-year decrease of 185 hours; The curtailment rate was 30.
98%, second only to Jilin Province
.
In this case, there are also thermal power enterprises through the method of "direct power supply" to obtain the priority right to grid power that should belong to renewable energy, greatly crowding out the power transmission channel resources, resulting in further aggravation
of losses of wind power enterprises.

There are gains and losses, and contradictions and disputes are always wrapped up in the practice of
reform.
The contradiction of "wind, light and fire" is a developing problem in the process of energy structure adjustment, and there is no need to over-interpret it
.
"With the increasingly severe situation of ecological environment and climate change, the energy revolution characterized by the priority development of renewable energy has become an inevitable trend
.
In this process, it will promote the qualitative change
of existing energy development thinking, institutional mechanism and technical route.
At some stage, it is possible
to slow down the pace of development and go faster.
In the face of challenges, we should unify our understanding, unswervingly develop new energy, and actively promote the revolution
of energy production and consumption.
Meng Xiangan said
.
The new energy industry, which has developed in twists and turns, has learned to think calmly when facing difficulties head-on, and solve problems
from its own situation.

"The reform of the electric power system emphasizes the diversification of the electricity market, and the market-oriented places must be solved by market-oriented means
.
" Meng Xiangan said that it is an inevitable trend for renewable energy and traditional energy to compete on the same platform, and it is also the process
that it must go through from alternative energy to main energy.
And the basis of competition on the same stage is price
.
The renewable energy industry should accelerate the improvement of quality and technology, gradually reduce costs, and at the same time explore the formation of a business model that meets the market, not always abandoning light and abandoning the wind, but gradually realizing that it does not rely on support, and can eventually compete
with traditional energy parity such as thermal power.