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needed to promote long-term action from government agen-
cies, stakeholders, and the general public. Polices to culti-
vate and guide public awareness toward a low-carbon future
are also needed. In the design of the electricity market, it is
necessary to establish a market with various products that
can reflect the value of the different services provided and
satisfy power-supply and policy goals at a higher efficiency
or lower cost. Regulations to promote fair competition
among market players are essential. In a future with more
diverse players in the power sector, the role of regulation is
increasingly important. The market and regulation elements
have long been the weakness of China's energy transfor-
mation. The country is currently working to establish a VG
quota system, a green certificate market, and carbon mar-
kets. The ongoing power-sector reform regards the promo-
tion of VG consumption as an important part of the market
design. China needs to address the challenges of smoothly
transforming from a highly administrated environment to a
competitive market and defining a clear boundary between
policy and regulation.
Strengthening Support for Secure Operation
of the Power System

Advanced technology should be developed to include power
grid friendly VG technologies, long-distance and flexible
transmission technologies, active distribution networks,
source-network-load-storage coordination and interaction
technologies, and VG control and protection technologies.
For example, in June 2016, a pilot of a source-network-
load-storage interaction project was completed in Jiangsu.
A total of 1,370 enterprises were included in the project,
with an interruptible load control of 3.5 GW/s. In this way,
the balancing capacity of the bulk power system has been
greatly improved.
Enhancing Integration to Make Power
Systems More Flexible

The thermal-electricity decoupling in Northeast China to
unlock flexibility on the generation side is an example of
thermal and power-system integration. It effectively coor-
dinated operation of thermal and power systems and cre-
ated a win-win situation by facilitating VG integration and
improving the reliability of heat supply at the same time.
However, it is not economical due to the high capital cost of
VG and the low value of the thermal energy. In the future,
efforts should be made to further integrate power, transpor-
tation, oil and gas, and other energy systems in an economi-
cal fashion so as to enhance power-system flexibility to a
greater extent.

Summary
A dozen years of rapid VG development, while posing chal-
lenges, has allowed China to gain experience and learn les-
sons. Going forward, China will pay more attention to qual-
ity instead of speed and scale in VG development. In the
november/december 2019

future, a policy-market-regulatory framework, supported
by technology innovation, is needed to facilitate power-sys-
tem and overall energy transformation. This framework will
need to accommodate VG on a large scale, the interests of
emerging new parties, and the digitalization of power sys-
tems. This framework should be continually updated based
on the stage of social and economic development as well as
challenges of different stages of energy transformation in
different countries.

For Further Reading
The Central People's Government of the People's Repub-
lic of China, "Renewable energy law (amended)," 2009.
[Online]. Available: http://www.gov.cn/flfg/2009-12/26/
content_1497462.htm.
L. Jiang et al., "Wind energy in China," IEEE Power Energy Mag., vol. 9, no. 6, pp. 36-46, Nov./Dec. 2011.
J. Liping et al. "Growth in wind and sun: Integrating vari-
able generation in China," IEEE Power & Energy Mag., vol.
13, no. 6, pp. 40-49, 2015.
Northeast China Energy Regulatory Bureau, "Implemen-
tation regulations for the management of ancillary services
provided by grid-connected power plants (trial)," Xi'an,
China, 2010.
Northeast China Energy Regulatory Bureau, "Operation
rules of the Northeast China power ancillary service market
(trial)," Xi'an, China, 2016.
H. Lu, C. Wang, Q. Li, R. Wiser, and K. Porter, "Reduc-
ing wind power curtailment in China: Comparing the roles
of coal power flexibility and improved dispatch," Climate
Policy, vol. 19, no. 5, pp. 623-635, Nov. 2018.

Biographies
Liping Jiang is with the State Grid Energy Research Insti-
tute, Beijing, China.
Caixia Wang is with the State Grid Energy Research In-
stitute, Beijing, China.
Guohui Xie is with the State Grid Energy Research Insti-
tute, Beijing, China.
Zhu Li is with the Beijing Power Exchange Center, China.
Hongpeng Zhang is with the State Grid Corporation of
China, Beijing.
Zheyi Pei is with the National Electric Power Dispatch-
ing and Communication Center, Beijing, China.
Pingliang Zeng is with Hangzhou Dianzi University,
China.
Chongqing Kang is with Tsinghua University, Beijing,
China.
Ning Zhang is with Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
Qionghui Li is with the State Grid Energy Research
Institute, Beijing, China.
Anping Hu is with China Electric Power Research Insti-
tute, Beijing, China.
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http://www.gov.cn/flfg/2009-12/26/content_1497462.htm. http://www.gov.cn/flfg/2009-12/26/content_1497462.htm.

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