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East China has historically relied on local coal power and electricity imported from other provinces to meet its electricity demand. With the implementation of China’s carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, in-province renewable energy development is increasing, while efforts to electrify vehicles, buildings, and industrial processes are also pushing up electricity demand. To manage these simultaneous increases in variable renewable generation and demand, the power grid needs additional flexibility resources – in particular, flexible demand-side resources (DSR) – to help balance supply and demand as needed.
NRDC is working with the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission to analyze Zhejiang Province’s power system flexibility potential. The project team will extrapolate Zhejiang’s analysis results to develop a plan for greater East China, South China, and other major provinces to transition to a new power system characterized by a high penetration of renewable energy. The initial project findings were shared with experts from academia, think tanks, and local power exchange center at a mid-term review meeting held on December 16, 2021. The meeting participants discussed pertinent issues, such as Zhejiang’s DSR potential, funding sources, and the cancellation of government-determined fixed electricity prices, etc. The experts agreed that Zhejiang Province should realize their DSR flexible potential through market mechanisms and top-level design and shave peak load by 5-8% from the end-user side, in order to realize early peaking before 2030. The final report is scheduled to be finished in the spring of 2022.