'Doubling in Ten Years' Shows Ambition in Energy Transition
2026-04-23
The more volatile the global oil and gas market becomes, the more it highlights the value of non fossil fuels. The National Development and Reform Commission recently announced that during the 15th Five Year Plan period, it will implement a ten-year doubling action for non fossil energy and accelerate the construction of a new energy system. It is expected that by 2035, the supply scale of non fossil energy such as wind power, photovoltaics, hydropower, and nuclear power will double compared to 2025, achieving the goal of "building another clean energy system" in terms of scale. This is one of the most ambitious goals in the history of China's energy transition, a strategic choice to ensure energy security and achieve green transformation. Why is the ten-year doubling target proposed at this stage? Currently, the global energy landscape is undergoing a major transformation not seen in a century. Frequent geopolitical conflicts, fragile traditional energy supply chains, and volatile international oil and gas prices make the bottom line thinking of energy security more important than ever. As a major energy consuming country, China has long faced the pressure of high external dependence on oil and gas resources. Only by accelerating the substitution of non fossil fuels can we fundamentally reduce our dependence on the international energy market and firmly hold the energy bowl in our own hands. From the perspective of the "dual carbon" commitment, doubling non fossil energy is the core lever for achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality. Energy activities contribute the main part of China's carbon emissions. Only by significantly increasing the proportion of clean energy can we reduce emissions from fossil fuel combustion at the source, fulfill China's solemn commitment to the world, and promote comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development. From the perspective of great power competition and industrial upgrading, energy transformation has long become the main battlefield of global technology and industrial competition. The fields of new energy, new energy storage, hydrogen energy, smart grid, etc. are not only important tracks for cultivating new quality productivity, but also key areas for winning the initiative in future development. The implementation of the ten-year doubling action is not only an adjustment of the energy structure, but also a strategic layout to promote China's transition from an energy giant to an energy powerhouse and seize the high ground in the global green and low-carbon track. How to achieve a ten-year doubling? The doubling of non fossil energy is not a standalone effort in a single field, but a systematic transformation supported by a new energy system. On the supply side, non fossil fuels are the main force. In the next decade, we will focus on promoting the construction of major projects such as large-scale hydropower bases in Southwest China, large-scale wind and solar power bases in "Shagehuang", offshore wind power clusters, and coastal nuclear power. We will promote the complementary and coordinated development of wind, solar, water, and nuclear energy, avoid the intermittent shortcomings of a single energy source, and form a stable and reliable clean energy supply matrix. Fossil fuels are stabilizers. Doubling is not a one size fits all withdrawal from fossil fuels, but rather a commitment to first establish and then break, allowing coal, oil, and natural gas to play an irreplaceable role in ensuring energy security, regulating electricity supply and demand, and responding to extreme situations, achieving a smooth transition and orderly replacement of old and new energy sources. At the transmission and consumption end, the new power system is the "main artery". By building strong smart grids, large-scale energy storage, ultra-high voltage transmission, and integrated source grid load storage infrastructure, we can solve the problem of wind and solar power generation being dependent on the weather, enabling clean energy to be generated, delivered, and used, and breaking through the bottlenecks in the entire chain from production to consumption. On the consumer side, green, intelligent, and cost saving is the overall direction. Promote energy conservation and carbon reduction in key areas such as industry, construction, and transportation, promote green energy scenarios such as distributed photovoltaics, electric vehicles, and smart homes, and encourage the whole society to consciously conserve energy and prioritize the use of clean energy, providing solid support for the doubling action from the demand side. The grand goal of doubling in ten years cannot be separated from practical challenges. The intermittency of wind and solar power generation, the bottleneck of power grid consumption, the pace of transition between new and old energy sources, and the cost pressure of large-scale investment are all obstacles on the road ahead. In the face of the trend of relying on the weather to make a living, the core lies in technological breakthroughs and system optimization: accelerating the research and development of new energy storage, hydrogen energy, pumped storage and other technologies, improving the regulation ability of the power system, and making unstable green electricity stable and reliable; Facing the bottleneck of consumption, we need to deepen the reform of the power system, improve the power market mechanism, and promote the optimization of power allocation across provinces and regions; In the face of the pace of transformation, we must adhere to the principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability, not engage in dynamic carbon reduction, and orderly promote substitution while ensuring energy security and economic stability; Faced with cost pressure, we need to continuously reduce the cost of new energy per kilowatt hour through large-scale development, technological iteration, and industrial chain collaboration, making clean energy more economically competitive. These challenges are not only pressures, but also driving forces for technological innovation, institutional reform, and industrial upgrading. China has formed a globally leading industrial chain advantage, technological accumulation, and engineering construction capability in the field of new energy, and has the foundation and conditions to achieve high-quality multiplication in solving problems. In the turbulent world landscape, every country is searching for a "deterministic anchor" for development. The doubling of non fossil energy in the past decade is an important direction for China to anchor its own development and global green transformation. Facing 2035, we need to maintain strategic determination, step by step promote the ten-year doubling action, build and operate the new energy system well, and make the driving force for high-quality development stronger and more sustainable. (New Society)
Edit:He Chuanning Responsible editor:Su Suiyue
Source:ECONOMIC DAILY
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