Yang Changli, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference: It is recommended that nuclear power be included in China's green power system丨Two sessions of "tackling"
At 3 p.m. on March 4, the Second Session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) officially opened in the Great Hall of the People. Yang Changli, member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGNPC), actively performed his duties as a member of the CPPCC and submitted the "Proposal on Incorporating Nuclear Power into China's Green Power System" to the General Assembly with 13 other CPPCC members.
The picture shows Yang Changli, member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of China General Nuclear Power Corporation. Courtesy of China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGNPC).
Nuclear power is one of the lowest carbon emission power generation technologies of all clean energy
The CPC Central Committee attaches great importance to the development of nuclear power, and the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposes to actively develop nuclear power in a safe and orderly manner. As a clean, low-carbon, safe, efficient, stable, and large-scale green and low-carbon energy source, nuclear power plays an important role in promoting green development and helping to achieve the "dual carbon" goal.
"Nuclear power is one of the lowest carbon emission generation technologies of all clean energy, according to the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), the carbon emissions per 1 kilowatt-hour of electricity produced over the life cycle of nuclear power are 5.7 grams. Yang Changli said that under the same caliber, the carbon emissions per 1 kilowatt-hour of electricity produced in the whole life cycle of photovoltaic power generation are 74.6 grams, hydropower is 64.4 grams, and wind power is 13.3 grams.
Up to now, the total installed capacity of nuclear power units under construction in mainland China has exceeded 100 million kilowatts, accounting for 21.2% of the total installed nuclear power capacity under construction in the world, and the performance of nuclear power safe operation ranks among the top in the world. In 2023, nuclear power will account for nearly 5% of the country's electricity generation, which is equivalent to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 350 million tons compared with coal-fired power generation.
Yang Changli further introduced that China's advanced nuclear energy technologies such as small reactors and fourth-generation reactors have kept pace with the international leading level, and the scale and quality of nuclear power development have reached a new level. According to the predictions of all parties, by 2035, China's operating nuclear power generation will account for more than 10%, and nuclear power will play a greater role in ensuring national energy security, building a new energy system, and helping to achieve the "double carbon" goal.
The scope of issuance of green certificates in China has covered all renewable energy
In order to promote the green and low-carbon transformation and development of energy, give full play to the low-carbon environmental value of green power, guide social green power consumption, and actively promote carbon emission reduction, the state established a green electricity certificate system in 2017, issuing green certificates to wind and solar power generation that meet the conditions, and obtaining green premiums through trading.
"Up to now, China has built an increasingly perfect green power system, established two market mechanisms of green certificate trading and green power trading, and expanded the scope of green certificate issuance to all renewable energy including hydropower. Yang Changli introduced.
"Green certificates have become the only voucher and transaction carrier for the identification of renewable energy production and consumption, realizing the positioning transformation and value enhancement from "green premium" to "basic voucher for renewable energy electricity consumption", and laying a solid foundation for the near-term convergence of energy consumption dual control policies and deduction of energy consumption, and medium and long-term convergence of energy conservation and carbon reduction policies and deduction of carbon emissions. Yang Changli said.
It is important to integrate nuclear power into the green power system
"As a stable, reliable, high-quality, green and low-carbon power, nuclear power has not been included in China's green power system so far, and has become the only non-fossil energy excluded from the system, which is not conducive to the realization of the national 'double carbon' goal, nor is it conducive to the long-term development of the nuclear power industry. Yang Changli believes that it is necessary and feasible to incorporate nuclear power into the green power system, and the policy practice of including hydropower in green certificates also provides a useful reference for the inclusion of nuclear power.
Yang Changli said that because nuclear power companies are unable to provide official certificates such as green certificates, it is difficult to meet the growing demand for green electricity consumption in society, and the supply of green electricity in the whole society is facing constraints. Driven by the "dual carbon" goal, the awareness of green electricity consumption in the whole society has gradually improved. The EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) has been put into trial operation and will soon be officially implemented, making goods produced using green electricity more internationally competitive and helping to avoid tariff barriers in international trade. The situation of carbon reduction at home and abroad has led to an increasing demand for green electricity from enterprises and other entities. "Nuclear power can provide more than 160 billion kWh of market-based electricity every year, which is one of the important choices for users to buy green electricity. Yang Changli introduced that nuclear power units are mainly distributed in coastal areas, which can greatly alleviate the shortage of green electricity in East China and South China.
Yang Changli believes that nuclear power has not been included in China's green power system, and its participation in market competition is facing challenges, which in turn affects the effective play of the low-carbon value of nuclear power. "The state's policy on the weight of responsibility for renewable energy consumption requires power grid enterprises, electricity sales companies and power users to bear the responsibility for consumption, which means that these entities still need to bear the same responsibility and quota for renewable electricity consumption while selling or purchasing nuclear power. Yang Changli further explained that this is actually treating nuclear power and fossil energy on the same footing, without reflecting the low-carbon attributes and emission reduction contributions of nuclear power, and reducing the enthusiasm of users to buy nuclear power. In the future, with the acceleration of the construction of a unified national electricity market and the further deepening of the concept of low-carbon consumption in the whole society, this issue will bring severe challenges to the participation of nuclear power in the power market competition.
It is understood that some countries in Europe and the United States have included nuclear power in the scope of green power at the policy or implementation level, and have provided beneficial practices. Countries such as Europe and the United States are paying more attention to the prominent role of nuclear power in carbon emission reduction, and 11 countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands and Finland, have issued EU Certificates of Origin (GO) certificates to nuclear power to prove the green attributes of the electricity used to end consumers. The states of Illinois and New York in the United States have set up zero-emission credits in the subdivision of clean energy quotas, which are specifically applicable to nuclear power, to support the realization of state emission reduction targets.
Yang Changli said that from the perspective of China's national conditions, the task of carbon emission reduction is more arduous, and the inclusion of nuclear power in the green power system is one of the important measures to achieve the coordinated transformation of the energy consumption side and the supply side, which not only provides official proof for the green and low-carbon attributes of nuclear power, realizes the full coverage of non-fossil energy power with green certificates, but also meets the purchase needs of market users, and gives full play to the important role of nuclear power in carbon reduction and carbon reduction in the country.
