Nation to accelerate power transition, tech innovation for energy security

China is set to accelerate the construction of a new, resilient energy system to buffer against escalating global market uncertainties, leveraging the "certainty" of its own domestic energy development to counter geopolitical turbulence.

Wang Hongzhi, head of the National Energy Administration, emphasized the need to double down on renewable energy expansion while ensuring the safe, reliable and orderly substitution of fossil fuels.

By focusing on the nation's energy resource endowments, the administration vows to enhance the resilience of the overall energy production, supply, storage and sales system, Wang said in a recently released article.

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"Fierce global competition over resources, transit routes and market rights is creating greater uncertainties for energy imports," said Wang, adding that China must use the certainty of its own energy development to respond to various risks and challenges.

With intertwined global chaos and intensified turbulence profoundly impacting the world's energy landscape, it is necessary to continuously raise the share of new energy in the national grid while cautiously managing the phase-down of traditional energy, he said.

Lu Ruquan, president of the CNPC Economics and Technology Research Institute, said China has been forging a protective buffer against global energy uncertainties with increasingly strategic diversification, together with immense reserve capacities.

China has been expanding the scale of cooperation in the natural gas sector with Central Asia and Russia, which will play a key role in shielding the domestic energy sector from sea-based supply chain volatility, Lu said.

Wang of the NEA said China has strengthened openness and cooperation in the energy sector in recent years, with its major energy import channels maintaining stable operations to promote the diversification of energy import sources.

China has also engaged in green energy project cooperation with more than 100 countries and regions, he added.

According to the administration, while fossil fuels — particularly coal — will continue serving as a reliable "baseline" or regulatory power source, non-fossil fuels will account for 25 percent of total energy consumption by the end of the decade.

To support this transition, the country aims to achieve a comprehensive national energy production capacity of 5.8 billion metric tons of standard coal while bringing total operating nuclear power capacity to approximately 110 gigawatts by 2030.

Additionally, to secure overall grid stability, infrastructure will be heavily upgraded by boosting West-to-East power transmission capacity to over 420 GW and adding approximately 100 GW of pumped hydro storage.

While China currently maintains a high energy self-sufficiency rate and has built the world's largest, most complete new energy supply chain, Wang acknowledged critical hurdles ahead.

He said that while China's energy tech is transitioning from "running alongside" to "leading" — particularly in renewables and novel energy storage — the sector still faces a lack of original innovation capability and relies on vulnerable supply chains for certain core technologies and equipment.

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To cultivate new quality productive forces in the energy sector, the NEA plans to intensify State-backed technological breakthroughs.

Future investments will heavily target next-generation nuclear reactors (including small modular and fourth-generation reactors), concentrated solar power, advanced coal technologies, heavy gas turbines and hydrogen fuels. Furthermore, the integration of artificial intelligence with energy networks is highlighted as a transformative priority.

Moving forward, China aims to deepen international energy cooperation, expand its green energy footprint abroad through "small and beautiful" projects, and enhance global recognition of its green energy certificates, said Wang.

Contact the writers at zhengxin@chinadaily.com.cn