SUZHOU, CHINA - A technician inspects power cables 60 meters above ground
Chinese companies have announced that they are accelerating the construction of a new type of power system on the back of renewable electricity growth, spurring demand for smart grids and power storage, experts said.
According to the companies, the new power system takes wind, solar, nuclear, biomass, and other new energies as the mainstay, with other resources like coal as supplements.
It highlights the advancement of technology to support a large scale of new energies smoothly connecting to the grid.
Lin Boqiang, head of the China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy at Xiamen University in Fujian province, said: "Different from fossil fuels, new energy power generation has higher requirements for the safe and stable operation of the power system. That's because most new energies are intermittent resources, which have rapid and random changes. This makes it hard for stable and steady power generation. "Besides, it causes volatility in voltage and frequency disturbances in grid operation during power transmission. As a result, it's necessary to develop new power systems to meet growing demand buoyed by increasing new energy installations."
Lin also said that as important components of the new power system, the promotion of smart grids and power storage will help mitigate the fluctuations in new energy power generation and transmission.
Last year, State Grid Corp of China put into operation 15 sets of pumped storage facilities with an installed capacity of 4.55 million kilowatts, exceeding the annual production plan of 12 sets. By the end of 2022, the company's pumped storage capacity totaled 28.06 million kW.
The company vowed to expand its pumped storage installed capacity to 100 million kW by 2030.
Source: China Daily