Solve the contradiction between coal and electricity and accelerate the integration of coal and electricity

The strong demand is the actual cause of the current "electricity shortage", and the contradiction between coal and electricity is the root cause. For this reason, in the short term, it is best to start with controlling demand to better respond to the “electricity shortage” and suppress the excessive growth of the production of high energy-consuming products and the demand for electricity. In the long run, we want to fundamentally avoid the future of power shortages. Again and again, we need to go both ways. On the one hand, we must accelerate the transformation of economic development patterns and adjust the economic structure so that the power demand, especially the growth of thermal power demand, can be controlled. Within a reasonable range, on the other hand, as soon as possible to resolve coal-power contradiction.

In the short term, in order to curb the rapid growth in electricity demand, following the introduction of the “Demand Side Management Approach” formally implemented on January 1 this year, and on April 21 this year, the National Development and Reform Commission issued again. "Orderly Power Management Measures" (hereinafter referred to as "Measures") will be implemented on May 1. The "Measures" require provincial power grid companies and other relevant units to determine the annual power regulation and control indicators, and decompose and release the power operation authorities of various cities; power management departments of various cities organize and guide power grid companies, and formulate annual regional order according to regulatory indicators. The power consumption plan shall be used to determine the user, load, and line; the provincial power operation authorities shall summarize the orderly power consumption plans of the various cities, compile the annual ordered power utilization plan for the region, and report it to the people’s government at the Development and Reform Commission for the record. The "Measures" also require that, when formulating orderly power plans, local governments should, in principle, focus on restricting the construction of projects under construction or projects under construction or industrial restructuring, and that the energy consumption of the products of the units is higher than that of the national or local governments. The enterprises, landscape lighting and lighting projects and other high-energy-consuming and high-emission enterprises are subject to the limit of energy consumption.

In the long run, in order to avoid the recurrence of the “electricity shortage”, it is necessary to start from the perspective of turning ways, adjusting structures, and solving the contradictions between coal and electricity.

First, we must continue to speed up the transformation of economic development patterns and adjust the structure of economic development.

In fact, in recent years, the central government has never wavered in its line of approach to transfer or structural adjustments, and has achieved certain results. Moreover, the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” will continue to transform the mode of economic development as the main line of economic development. In spite of this, the author believes that in order to prevent the recurrence of power shortages, the future transfer of methods and structural adjustment should also strengthen the coordination of central and local policies on the one hand, and on the other hand continue to accelerate the development of new energy and reduce the proportion of thermal power in the power supply structure. .

Second, we must speed up the solution to the increasingly sharp contradiction between coal and electricity.

The previously mentioned methods of transforming development, adjusting the economic structure, slowing down the rate of energy consumption, and developing new energy sources can only be a strategy for dealing with the power shortage. Because the energy structure of our country determines that we want to fundamentally avoid electricity shortages, we must accelerate the resolution of coal-electricity conflicts in the future. At present, the proportion of coal-fired power in China's power supply is as high as 80%. Even if this proportion is reduced in the future, the dominant position of coal-fired power in the power supply structure will be hard to shake under the influence of resource endowments.

The current contradiction between coal and electricity is obvious to all, and it is often referred to as the contradiction between "market coal" and "planned electricity." Coal prices have been market-oriented, and prices have continued to rise. The profitability of the coal industry has continued to increase; while electricity prices have still been priced by the government, and electricity prices cannot be adjusted in time with coal prices, and profitability of power generation companies continues to weaken. Therefore, the general contradiction between coal and electricity is that there are serious imbalances in the distribution of interests between the two major industries of coal and electricity. The solution to the contradiction between coal and electricity is to rebalance the distribution of benefits between the two industries.

In the face of rising coal prices, many stakeholders proposed the solution to the contradiction between coal and electricity is to raise the price of electricity and implement coal-electricity linkage. There is no doubt that this is indeed one of the ways to balance the distribution of the interests of coal and electricity in the two major industries, but I always believe that this is not the best way. This adjustment is in the coal industry's interests have not been damaged, the interests of the power industry has been increased, in fact, this is not to achieve Pareto improvement, but to damage the interests of ordinary consumers on the premise.

The integration of coal and electricity can be achieved by a variety of routes, which can be the extension of coal and power companies to each other; or the direct integration of existing coal and power companies into large-scale integrated energy groups; and it can also be existing coal and electricity. Businesses can cross-shareholdings. However, under the circumstances where the strength of coal and electricity is obvious, the integration of coal and electricity must be implemented. In most cases, the government may need to promote it.