BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s state planner unveiled details on Tuesday of a three-year plan to upgrade the power system as the country seeks to ramp up renewables and ease the strain of rising power demand on the national grid.
The 2024-2027 plan launched by the National Reform and Development Commission will help China meet a goal to bring carbon emissions to a peak before 2030 and includes guidance on the upgrading of transmission and distribution systems, the planning body said.
It also calls for more renewable power to be used in China’s long-distance power transmission projects, which typically send electricity from large plants in western China to cities in the east of the country.
The plan set a target for demand response capacity to reach 5% of the maximum electric load, while creating conditions for demand response to reach 10% of maximum load. Demand response refers to balancing the demands placed on power grids by encouraging consumers to shift their electricity usage away from peak times.
It also called for creating standards for next-generation coal-fired power, reducing the emissions from coal power plants and blending coal with lower-carbon fuels.
Other plans included improving the country’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure and piloting new grid scheduling plans in areas with heavy EV charging demand.
(Reporting by Colleen Howe; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Helen Popper)
