绿电消纳重心转向需求侧 行业建言完善价格机制The focus of green electricity consumption shifts to the demand side, industry suggests improving the pricing mechanism

With the continuous expansion of renewable energy installation capacity, the focus of domestic green power development has shifted from ensuring "generation availability" to activating demand-side potential and achieving "optimal use" of green power. At the recently held "2026 Green Transition and High-Quality Development International Seminar," participating experts discussed price mechanisms, consumption scenarios, and industry adaptation.

In recent years, China has made significant achievements in the green and low-carbon energy transition. This July, the installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation historically surpassed coal power, becoming the largest power source category in domestic installation capacity. However, the utilization rate of renewable energy faces pressure that cannot be ignored. In the first three quarters of this year, the average utilization rates of domestic wind and photovoltaic power were about 92% and 93%, respectively. Compared to the same period in 2024 and 2025, when the levels were 94% to 97%, a downward trend is observed.

Against this backdrop, the "15th Five-Year Plan for Renewable Energy Development" issued in July this year proposed for the first time a reliability improvement goal of achieving an average confidence output of 8% for wind and photovoltaic power. At that time, a relevant official from the National Energy Administration stated that during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, it is necessary to improve the comprehensive efficiency of development, transmission, and utilization, and gradually transform into a main power source that provides electricity supply, capacity support, and system regulation capabilities.

Yang Lei, Deputy Director of the Institute of Energy at Peking University, believes that the key to building a renewable energy system lies in breaking the traditional segmented structure, achieving the integration and complementation of multiple energy sources, and coordinating supply and demand to jointly reduce system costs and share the benefits of renewable energy. In his view, the key to optimizing resource allocation lies in market design and price signals, rather than the technology itself. New models such as virtual power plants, vehicle-grid integration, direct green power connections, and integrated source-grid-load-storage can only provide sustainable intrinsic motivation for green transition if users receive tangible economic benefits.

The transportation sector holds considerable potential for the absorption of renewable energy and load regulation. With the number of renewable energy vehicles in China exceeding 50 million, they have begun to have a substantial impact on the operation of the power system. Li Lili, a specially appointed researcher at the Tsinghua University Institute for Energy Internet Innovation, explained that if the power batteries of electric vehicles are regarded as mobile energy storage, currently more than 70% of domestic energy storage resources are concentrated in renewable energy vehicles. Clear commercial scenarios for vehicle-to-grid (V2G) collaboration have already emerged in China: first, using peak-valley price differences in commercial and industrial sectors to conduct behind-the-meter energy storage and peak-valley arbitrage; second, participating in grid interactions through V2G and electricity pricing. Nine provinces and cities nationwide have launched V2G electricity pricing policies, providing a price mechanism foundation for electric vehicles to supply power back to the grid. Li Lili stated that in the future, if these batteries participate in electricity markets and ancillary services through aggregation platforms, they will release enormous energy storage value. He also suggested that automakers and battery companies use services such as extended battery warranties to alleviate users' concerns about participating in V2G, thereby creating a win-win business ecosystem for vehicle owners, enterprises, and the grid.

The demand for power systems in the industrial sector is also changing. Zhang Sheng, a senior engineer at the Energy Technology Innovation Research Institute of the General Institute of Electric Power Planning and Design, pointed out that the demand in the industrial sector is shifting from simply ensuring supply to balancing supply security with green electricity traceability; the goal of building around 100 national zero-carbon parks during the 15th Five-Year Plan period has set higher requirements for green electricity consumption and reducing carbon emission intensity in the industrial sector. He stated that parks can utilize rooftop photovoltaics, industrial waste heat and pressure power generation, and build park energy management platforms to improve source-load matching; currently, technologies such as electric boilers, electric kilns, and industrial heat pumps have generally matured, and more work will focus on engineering verification, policy support, and mechanism design. Zhang Sheng emphasized that effective price signals are an important prerequisite for reducing the overall energy cost of the parks and improving green electricity consumption. He also noted that the proportion of electricity consumption by high energy-intensive industries in China has been declining year by year, currently down to about 25%, while electricity consumption in high-tech manufacturing industries is rapidly increasing.

Emerging industries are regarded as the main scenarios for the consumption of renewable energy during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. Huang Hui, Deputy Director of the Clean Power Project at the Nature Conservancy, analyzed that energy consumption in emerging industries is mainly electricity-based, with strong economic bearing capacity and favorable development prospects, which aligns well with the long investment recovery cycles of energy infrastructure. However, participants in the meeting reminded that the load characteristics of different industries and their compatibility with renewable energy vary significantly, and the corresponding adjustment costs also differ: high-end manufacturing and computing centers require high power supply reliability. Without supporting fast-adjustment resources such as energy storage, they find it difficult to respond to short-term fluctuations and can only shift part of the load when production capacity is ample. In contrast, the green hydrogen industry, relying on advances in electrolyzer technology, is becoming a high-quality flexible load, capable of flexible start-up and shutdown and rapid response.

Regarding the differentiated characteristics of the industry, Huang Hui suggested further improving market mechanisms such as time-of-use electricity pricing, capacity compensation, and ancillary services, and appropriately reducing system cost sharing for users adapted to renewable energy. At the same time, through differentiated assessments, time-and-region-based green electricity certificates, and renewable energy consumption obligations, policies can guide the industry to expand renewable energy consumption. In addition, to address the issues of rising marginal costs of green electricity and declining market willingness to pay, the electricity carbon emission accounting system and product carbon footprint management should be improved, relying on government green procurement, carbon inclusiveness, and other measures to guide the transmission of green premiums to the end-consumer stage.

[Source: Yicai Global]

[Editor: Xiao Neng]