On July 31, the National Energy Administration held a press conference to introduce the national energy situation in the first half of this year, the grid connection and operation of renewable energy, and the overall situation of power supply and demand during the peak summer period, etc. In the first half of the year, China had an abundant energy supply and an overall loose supply and demand situation. The energy structure continued to be optimized, and the construction of a new energy system was accelerated, providing strong support for the sustained recovery and improvement of the economy. During this period, the growth rate of the total electricity consumption of the whole society has stabilized and rebounded, the development of renewable energy has reached a new level, the construction of charging infrastructure has achieved remarkable results, energy investment has "concentrated towards green and new", and at the same time, the overall power supply during the peak summer period has been guaranteed.
The growth rate of electricity consumption across society has stabilized and rebounded
Xing Yiteng, deputy director of the Development Planning Department of the National Energy Administration, introduced that in the first half of the year, the national energy supply was sufficient, the overall supply and demand were loose, the energy structure continued to optimize, and the construction of a new energy system was accelerated.
Xing Yiteng said that in the first half of the year, energy consumption generally maintained growth. The growth rate of the total electricity consumption of the whole society has stabilized and rebounded. In April and May, the growth rates of the total electricity consumption of the whole society reached 4.7% and 4.4% respectively. In June, the total electricity consumption of the whole society increased by 5.4% year-on-year. The demand for natural gas has slightly increased, with urban gas being the main driving factor. Coal consumption slightly declined, mainly due to factors such as warm winter weather and a significant increase in the output of new energy. The consumption of refined oil products continued to show a negative growth trend, and the substitution effect of new energy vehicles and liquefied natural gas (LNG) heavy-duty trucks on transportation oil continued to emerge.
Meanwhile, the green and low-carbon transformation is accelerating. The installed capacity of new energy has maintained rapid growth. After the installed capacity of wind power and solar power across the country surpassed that of thermal power for the first time in history at the end of March, the proportion of non-fossil energy power generation capacity exceeded 60% for the first time at the end of May. In the first half of the year, the newly installed capacity of wind power and solar power generation doubled compared with the same period last year. The construction of a new power system is accelerating. The National Energy Administration has organized and carried out the first batch of pilot projects for the construction of a new power system to support the high-quality development of new energy.
When discussing the investment and construction of key energy projects, Xing Yiteng said that according to monitoring, in the first half of the year, China's energy infrastructure construction maintained a good momentum. The completed investment of key energy projects under construction and planned to start within the year across the country exceeded 1.5 trillion yuan, increasing by 21.6% year-on-year. The year-on-year growth rate of completed investment in the eastern, central and western regions all exceeded 20% Investment by private enterprises has maintained a relatively fast growth rate, and new energy investment has been continuously gathering in a "green and new" direction.
Among them, investment in new energy power generation has maintained rapid growth. In the first half of the year, the investment in onshore wind power in Guangxi and Xinjiang doubled compared with the same period last year, while the investment in offshore wind power in Guangdong, Fujian and Shanghai was released in a concentrated manner. The investment in centralized photovoltaic power generation increased by 24.5% year-on-year, and the investment in distributed photovoltaic power generation rose by over 70% year-on-year. The investment in distributed photovoltaic power generation in the eastern and central regions maintained rapid growth.
Investment in new energy business forms is accelerating its release
Xing Yiteng introduced that in the first half of the year, the investment in key hydrogen energy projects doubled, and multiple green hydrogen projects under construction in Jilin Province were advancing at a fast pace. The investment in charging and battery swapping infrastructure increased by nearly 70% year-on-year. The first batch of 9 pilot cities for large-scale application of vehicle-to-grid interaction are accelerating the construction of intelligent charging and battery swapping infrastructure. The investment in new energy storage and source-grid-load-storage integration both increased by more than 30% year-on-year.
Meanwhile, private enterprises' investment in the energy sector has grown rapidly. In the first half of the year, the investment completed by private enterprises in the energy sector increased by 27.8% year-on-year. Private enterprises' investment in distributed photovoltaic power, onshore wind power and other fields has been accelerating its release, with the completed investment amount increasing by more than 40% year-on-year. Their investment in charging and battery swapping infrastructure, centralized photovoltaic power and other fields has maintained a relatively fast growth, with the completed investment amount increasing by about 15% year-on-year.
In addition, in the first half of the year, the leading role of renewable energy in the energy system has become increasingly prominent, and the development of renewable energy has reached a new level. In the first half of the year, the newly installed capacity of renewable energy across the country reached 268 million kilowatts, up by 99.3% year-on-year, accounting for approximately 91.5% of the newly installed capacity. Pan Huimin, deputy director of the New Energy and Renewable Energy Department of the National Energy Administration, introduced that renewable energy continues to maintain its dominant position in new installed capacity.
In the first half of the year, the national renewable energy power generation reached 1,799.3 billion kilowatt-hours, increasing by 15.6% year-on-year. It accounted for approximately 39.7% of the total power generation and exceeded the combined electricity consumption of the tertiary industry and urban and rural residents during the same period. Among them, the combined power generation of wind power and solar energy was 1,147.8 billion kilowatt-hours, increasing by 27.4% year-on-year. It accounted for 23.7% of the total electricity consumption of the whole society, up by 4.4 percentage points compared with the same period last year. The combined power generation of wind and photovoltaic power increased by 247 billion kilowatt-hours compared with the same period last year, exceeding the increment of the total electricity consumption of the whole society.
The construction of high-quality charging infrastructure is accelerating
With the continuous growth of the number of new energy vehicles, the construction of charging infrastructure has delivered an outstanding performance in the first half of the year, ensuring the safety of users' travel. Liu Mingyang, deputy director of the Electricity Department of the National Energy Administration, introduced that as of the end of June, the total number of electric vehicle charging facilities (charging guns) in China was 16.1 million. Among them, there are 4.096 million public charging facilities (charging guns) and 12.004 million private charging facilities (charging guns). The coverage rate of charging facilities in counties is 97.08%, and that in towns and townships is 80.02%. In the first half of this year, the total charging volume of new energy vehicles across the country reached 54.923 billion kilowatt-hours.
Liu Mingyang introduced that in order to achieve static traceability and dynamic updatability of the national charging facility construction and operation data, the National Energy Administration has optimized and adjusted the statistical standards for charging facility data. In the future, it will release charging facility data to the public on a monthly basis. Next, the National Energy Administration will enhance work coordination and policy planning, continuously improve the layout of the charging network, enhance the quality of facility operation services, accelerate the construction of high-quality charging infrastructure, and better meet the needs of the people for purchasing and using new energy vehicles.
Liu Mingyang also said that the overall power supply during the peak summer period this year is guaranteed. During the peak summer period, the national electricity load may exceed 1.55 billion kilowatts. Next, the National Energy Administration will enhance the monitoring and analysis of the power supply and demand situation, strengthen the peak power generation capacity of conventional power sources, optimize the allocation of power resources, and provide "one province, one policy" guidance for power supply security. It will spare no effort to ensure that the power supply and demand situation during the peak summer period is controllable and under control, resolutely hold the bottom line of not cutting off or restricting power, and resolutely ensure the power supply for people's livelihood.
99.3%
In the first half of the year, the newly installed capacity of renewable energy across the country reached 268 million kilowatts, increasing by 99.3% year-on-year, accounting for approximately 91.5% of the newly installed capacity.