National Energy Administration Releases the Blue Paper on the Development of the New Power System

The Blue Paper provided a full picture of development philosophy and characteristics of the new power system. It proposed a three-step strategic plan and highlighted the overall architecture and major tasks for building the new power system.

The unveiling ceremony of the Blue Paper on the Development of the New Power System (the Blue Paper) was recently held in Beijing, hosted by the National Energy Administration and organized by China Electric Power Planning and Engineering Institute and China Energy Media Group. The Blue Paper provides a full picture of development philosophy and characteristics of the new power system. It proposes a three-step strategic plan and highlights the overall architecture and major tasks for building the new power system.

The Blue Paper emphasizes that the new power system is built upon the fundamental premise of ensuring energy and power security while prioritizing the provision of electricity to facilitate high-quality economic and social development. Central to its mission is the establishment of a high-proportion new energy supply and consumption system, with multi-dimensional coordination and flexible interaction among generation, grid, load, and storage and with robust, intelligent, and flexible power grids. Technological innovation and institutional reforms serve as the cornerstones for this new era power system, which is a crucial component of the new energy landscape and plays a key role in achieving the target of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. The new power system is characterized by four essential features: safety and efficiency, cleanliness and low carbon, flexibility and agility, and intelligent integration. Safety and efficiency are foundational prerequisites, cleanliness and low carbon are core objectives, flexibility and agility serves as a vital support, and intelligent integration serves as the bedrock guarantee. Together, these features form the comprehensive framework of the new power system.

Aligned with the CPC Central Committee’s Two-step Strategy for the new era and “30·60” Decarbonization Goal, the Blue Paper sets significant milestones for the construction of the new power system at key milestones in 2030, 2045, and 2060. It formulates a a three-step strategic plan, encompassing the acceleration transformation phase from the present to 2030, the overall formation phase from 2030 to 2045, and the consolidation and improvement phase from 2045 to 2060, ensuring a systematic and phased approach to advancing the construction of the new power system.

In terms of the overall framework and key tasks, the Blue Paper proposes the establishment of four crucial systems: the power supply support system, new energy development and utilization system, large-scale energy storage deployment and application system, and intelligent operation system. Furthermore, it emphasizes the need to strengthen the three-dimensional foundational support of standardization and specifications, core technologies and major equipment, as well as relevant policies and institutional innovations to effectively adapt to the requirements of the new power system.