Incremental power distribution, new possibilities for new energy consumption
The pilot of incremental distribution reform has been implemented for many years. At present, incremental distribution network is becoming an important part of building a new power system.
On January 22, the "2023 Incremental Distribution Development Research White Paper" (hereinafter referred to as the "White Paper") organized and compiled by the National Energy Development Strategy Research Institute of North China Electric Power University was officially released. According to the white paper, as of December 31, 2023, among the five batches of 459 incremental distribution pilots approved by the state, 329 pilots have completed planning and preparation, 359 pilots have completed owner optimization, 256 pilots have determined the scope of power supply, and 227 pilots have obtained power business licenses.
Since the "No. 9 document" launched a new round of electricity reform in 2015, the incremental distribution network reform has become a breakthrough in electricity reform. Today, the incremental distribution reform pilot has been implemented for many years. Over the years, the reform of electricity distribution and sales has moved forward in twists and turns. A number of interviewed industry insiders believe that in the past few years of the incremental distribution reform pilot, the local government has a strong willingness to promote the incremental distribution reform pilot with good boundary conditions have been put into operation one after another. In the pilot incremental distribution reform that has been put into operation, it has become a consensus to build a green active distribution network with new energy, source-grid-load-storage integration, multi-energy complementarity, and comprehensive energy supply according to the resource endowment and user structure of the region. At present, incremental distribution network is becoming an important part of building a new power system.
Healthy operations are still facing difficulties
According to the white paper, a total of 329 incremental distribution network plans have been completed in the five batches of pilots, accounting for more than seventy percent of the total number of pilots. Among them, 86 in the first batch, 72 in the second batch, 79 in the third batch, 53 in the fourth batch, and 39 in the fifth batch. In the past seven years, the preparation of incremental distribution network planning has been completed in the five batches of pilots, with a rapid growth rate from 2018 to 2022 and one new one in 2023.
According to the white paper, a total of 246 bidding announcements have been issued in the five batches of pilots, accounting for more than half of the number of pilots. Public bidding and competitive negotiation are the main bidding methods of the pilot, and the two methods account for more than ninety percent of the total number of pilot projects that have been issued tender announcements. In the past seven years, the bidding announcements have been issued in the five batches of pilots: the growth rate is relatively fast from 2018 to 2022, and one new one will be added in 2023. A total of 359 owners have been identified in the five batches of pilots, and the pilots with identified owners account for about eighty percent of the total number of pilots.
The reporter of "China Energy News" interviewed and learned that 2018-2020 is a period of rapid development of the incremental distribution reform pilot. After 2021, the progress of the incremental distribution reform pilot is relatively slow, because the early stage is all procedural work, and the actual implementation and operation of the pilot project after obtaining the power business license is difficult and difficult. Nowadays, it is difficult to promote the pilot reform of incremental power distribution.
An unnamed business person who participated in the preparation of the "white paper" told the "China Energy News" reporter that the incremental distribution network reform as a breakthrough in power reform, in the past 8 years, although certain achievements have been made, but in the process of pilot landing, the exclusive management right of the project, fair access to the superior power grid and access to the development of new energy as the main power source, and the right to obtain fair and reasonable returns in accordance with national policies have not been fully guaranteed and implemented, these factors have become a stubborn disease that restricts and affects the benign operation of the pilot project.
Wu Junhong, deputy editor-in-chief of the white paper, said in an interview with China Energy News that the existing five batches of incremental power distribution projects have not shown a trend of accelerating development. Mainly because of the five batches of high-quality projects or projects that are easier to carry out, planning preparation, owner optimization, regional division, project construction and other related work have been carried out in the past few years, and the remaining projects have more or less problems in terms of feasibility or difficulty of development.
In the eyes of industry insiders, "for difficult projects, lack of market confidence" directly led to many companies that had been waiting to give up participating in the incremental distribution network, and the enterprises participating in the pilot also chose to withdraw.
Incremental power distribution in the park is a development trend
Talking about the reform of the incremental distribution network this year, Wu Junhong believes that the existing five batches of incremental distribution projects will still be pushed forward step by step according to the situation of each project itself, and once the project needs or conditions change, the progress of a project may be suddenly accelerated.
Jia Yu, general manager of Yulin Electric Power Investment Co., Ltd., said in an interview with a reporter from China Energy News, "The future development of the incremental distribution network requires government departments and regulatory agencies to strengthen supervision on the one hand, and respect and maintain the basic legitimate rights and interests of the operation, development and income of the incremental distribution network." Some long-delayed hot spots, blockages, and difficult problems have seriously affected and restricted the development of pilot projects, and seriously dampened the confidence and enthusiasm of market players. On the other hand, the pilot projects that have been put into operation need to vigorously carry out the construction of green active microgrids with new energy-based source-grid-load-storage integration according to local conditions. It is necessary to support and encourage policy support and encourage incremental distribution reform pilots, focusing on the safe, reliable, green and low-carbon, cost-effective energy needs of users, and building a green distribution network with multi-energy complementarity and integrated energy supply integrating source, grid, load and storage with new energy as the mainstay. ”
In Wu Junhong's view, the future development of incremental distribution should focus on the newly launched "park-type incremental distribution network + new energy" project due to the need for green and high-quality development and investment promotion. Such projects have been tried in individual provinces over the past year or two. In the face of the current economic development needs, more and more places are beginning to support this type of business model. Although the number of new projects added each year will not be too large, the quality and scale of investment will be more advantageous than the incremental distribution network in the past.
Taking the low-carbon demonstration park of Huanggang Industrial Park as an example, relying on the incremental distribution network invested and operated by Taineng Smart Power in the park, it has successfully connected more than 53 MW of new energy projects to the grid, which is at the leading level in the industry and similar parks. The grid-connected operation of these new energy projects can provide about 61.851 million kWh of clean energy for Huanggang Industrial Park every year and reduce carbon emissions by 36,000 tons.
Innovate the power distribution system to promote the consumption of new energy
Industry insiders believe that in the past, access to power supply in the incremental distribution network is a more sensitive topic, and incremental distribution network projects rarely consider new energy power access, but under the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality, in order to develop larger-scale new energy, according to the traditional power system development thinking to treat large-scale new energy grid-connected, the power system will face huge construction and use cost pressure. These pressures come from the investment in the power grid to solve the new energy transmission and grid connection on the one hand, and the cost demand for ancillary services caused by the fluctuation of new energy on the other hand. Therefore, in the future incremental distribution reform, there is an urgent need to innovate the distribution system and mechanism to achieve low-cost consumption of new energy.
Jia Yu also said that in the context of accelerating the construction of a new power system, considering the optimization, adjustment and improvement of the power production, supply and marketing system, we should adhere to the combination of "coming from afar" and "taking from around". Under the basic premise of meeting the basic premise of safety and stability, we should give full play to the advantages of flexible incremental distribution network system and mechanism, vigorously carry out the construction of distributed new energy and centralized new energy access and consumption, reduce the comprehensive power purchase cost of incremental distribution network and encourage price fluctuations to downstream end users.
"Through the construction of incremental distribution networks and related new energy grid-connected lines through social capital investment, the cost of power grid companies investing in the power grid can be reduced, and then the pressure on provincial transmission and distribution prices to rise. In addition, through the nearby access of new energy to the incremental distribution network for consumption, the power flow detour loss of the new energy grid-connected line connected to the power grid in the traditional way and then absorbed by the load side through the power supply line of the power grid is reduced. Wu Junhong believes that according to the basic principle of paid use of power grid facilities and relevant policy requirements, direct access to the incremental distribution network in the consumption of new energy does not need to pay the transmission and distribution price of the external power grid, which directly reduces the cost of users for the use of this part of the new energy. In addition, through the strengthening of the demand-side management of users in the incremental distribution network, the further energy storage configuration in the network can strengthen the interaction ability of the integration of local unit source, grid, load and storage, which can reduce the impact of new energy fluctuations and load fluctuations on the imbalance of the power system, thereby reducing the power system's consumption of new energy and the cost of auxiliary services for users to use new energy.
In the view of industry insiders, the "additional distribution network + new energy" model can attract high-energy-consuming enterprises with low electricity prices and green power demand to settle in and put into production, and enhance the competitiveness of their products. This model can effectively drive load increment, which is the basis of economic development and new energy consumption.
