Reported by Bojing Liu, China Power Newspaper, China Electricity News Network.

China Power Media Group held a press conference in Beijing on January 6. From the perspective of professional media of energy and power industry, the major events of domestic and foreign energy and power happened in the past year were summarized in this paper, and the development trend of energy and power was analyzed. This is the first time CEM held a press conference to release the annual top 10 energy and power news. The selection and release of the annual news attracted wide attention and enthusiastic response from the industry. Relevant leaders of the comprehensive division of National Energy Administration (NEA), Mr. Zhaofeng Wei, the party secretary and chairman of CEM Group, and Mr. Pingan Gu, the party secretary and general manager of CEM Group, attended the press conference.

Mr. Pingan Gu released the top 10 news of energy and power in 2016. “Jinping Xi presided over the 14th meeting of the central leading group on financial and economic affairs, which emphasized accelerating the increase of the proportion of clean heating”, “The coal industry has overfulfilled its annual excess capacity”, and other contents were included in the top ten energy news of the year. “Comprehensive acceleration of power system reform”, “November 24th particularly major collapse accident at Fengcheng Power Plant in Jiangxi province ”, and other contents were included in the top 10 power news of the year.

The annual top ten news of energy and power released this year accurately reviewed the key points and breaking news of the energy and power industry in the whole year, showed the development and breakthrough of the industry, and once again reviewed the landmarks and milestone events of the industry development, creating a favorable public opinion environment for the healthy and sustainable development of the energy industry.

Mr. Pingan Gu said in his speech that CEM Group has been focusing on the main industry, optimizing the mechanism, strengthening the brand and improving the management, and actively expanding the brand awareness and influence in the energy industry based on power and energy. At present, the Group occupies the leading position of central ministries and commissions and industry media in the construction of media platforms, the integrated development of traditional media and new media, and the influence of industry. Since the beginning of 2016 till now, the energy and power industry has deepened its reform and development, and the energy revolution has taken steady steps. As the mainstream media in the energy and power industry under the leadership of the NEA, in 2017, CEM will continue to focus on the reform and development of energy and power, always tell the wonderful stories of energy and power, and create a favorable public opinion atmosphere for the in-depth development of the energy revolution.

Starting from early December 2016, the annual top ten news selection activity has invited many experts and scholars in the energy and power industry, including academicians of the Chinese academy of engineering, and news directors of major energy and power central enterprises to form a special selection committee, marking and selecting 20 candidate news . At the same time, CEM has opened an all-media voting channel, using the channels of official WeChat and microblog of China news network and China electric power news, and widely mobilizing people from the energy and power industry and readers to participate in the voting. Based on the scores from experts, judges and online voting, CEM group has selected top 10 energy news and top 10 power news of 2016.

CEM Group leaders attended the conference in Beijing.

More than 10 media, including People's Daily, China National Radio, China Central Television and Economy Daily, attended the press conference.

Top 10 power news of 2016

1. Reform of the electric power system was promoted comprehensively

The reform scope of the electricity transmission and distribution has been extended to all provincial-level power grids except those in Tibet, and basic coverage has been basically achieved. The project covers 29 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) and Xinjiang. In 2016, the establishment Plans of Beijing and Guangzhou Electric Power Trading Centers were announced respectively. Two regional trading centers were established successively in a relatively short time, and the market management committee was established in place. The country's first power grid enterprise relative holding power trading center-Kunming Power Trading Center was established, and the shares of Yunnan Power Grid Company accounted for 50%. Within this year, the Administrative Measures on the Access and Exit of Power Selling Companies and Administrative Measures on the Orderly Opening of Power Distribution Network Business were issued to clarify the implementation of the access system for power selling companies with registration system and credit supervision as the core, and no administrative license was needed. The Circular on Standardizing the Reform of Incremental Power Distribution Business announced 105 pilot projects for the first batch of incremental power distribution business reform.

2. Jiangxi Fengcheng Power Plant suffered a major collapse accident on November 24

The top formwork concrete passageway collapsed after a crane had collapsed on the cooling tower flat bridge of the phase III extension project at the Yichun Fengcheng power plant in Jiangxi province on November 24. 74 people died and two were injured at the site of accident.

After the accident, General Secretary Jinping Xi and Premier Keqiang Li immediately made important instructions. On November 28, nine persons who were responsible for the accident, were suspected and detained in accordance with the law. As of November 30, all the victims' families have signed the compensation agreements, and all the compensation work has been completed.

3. The problem of structural excess has become prominent, and coal power has accelerated its capacity reduction

The operation of thermal power enterprises is under great pressure due to multiple factors, including economic development entering a new normal state, slowing power demand, much lower space for power growth than expected, annual decline in thermal power utilization hours and rising coal price. In 2016, relevant national departments have issued measures and policies for the orderly development of coal power. The National Development and Reform Commission and the NEA issued a document to strictly control the new scale of coal power generation, set up a risk warning mechanism, and take measures such as canceling one batch, to postpone auditing one batch, and to postpone building one batch, so as to ensure the orderly development of coal power generation. In 2016, 12.4 million kilowatts of coal-fired power projects that did not meet the approved requirements were canceled, and the scale of energy-saving renovation of coal power exceeded 200 million kilowatts and ultra-low emission reconstruction exceeded 100 million kilowatts.

4. Power industry multiterm “13th five-year Plan” released

On November 7, the National Development and Reform Commission and the NEA of China officially released the Power Development “13th five-year Plan", which is China's multiterm “13th five-year Plan”. According to the action plan for power development, it is expected that the whole society will use 6.8 to 7.2 trillion kWH of electricity in 2020, with an average annual growth rate of 3.6 to 4.8 percent. Per capita installed capacity will exceed 1.4 kilowatts, and per capita electricity consumption will be around 5,000 kWH, close to the level of medium developed countries.

Subsequently, wind power, hydropower and biomass energy development “13th five-year” Plans have been released. In terms of wind power, the document clearly proposes that the cumulative grid-connected installed capacity of China's wind power should be more than 210 million kw by the end of 2020, and the annual generation capacity of wind power should be 420 billion kWH, accounting for about 6% of the country's total power generation. As for hydropower, during the 13th five-year plan period, China will continue to build large-scale hydropower bases, and six major hydropower bases will be basically completed by 2020, including the upstream of the Yangtze river, the upstream of the Yellow River, Wujiang river, Nanpanjiang Hongshui river, Yalong river and Dadu river. During the period of “13th five-year plan”, China will promote the use of wind power in the 3 northern areas in an orderly manner. In terms of biomass energy, the plan points out that by 2020, biomass energy will be basically commercialized and utilized on a large scale. Biomass energy annual utilization of about 58 million tons of standard coal. The total installed capacity of biomass power generation has reached 15 million kW, with an annual generating capacity of 90 billion kWH.

5. The national implements a new round of rural power grid transformation and upgrading

On February 3, premier Keqiang Li presided over an executive meeting of the national council in Beijing, which decided to implement a new round of rural power grid transformation and upgrading projects with a total investment of more than 700 billion RMB. The first requirement of the meeting is to speed up the transformation and upgrading of agricultural networks in the west and poor areas, focus on areas under severe stress and old revolutionary base areas, and focus on solving problems such as substandard voltage and power failure. Improve the capacity to accommodate distributed new energy generation. Second, we should combine high-standard farmland construction and popularization of agricultural water-saving irrigation to promote the full coverage of power consumption in plain villages. To meet the new demands of agricultural product processing, rural e-commerce development and farmer consumption upgrading, we will intensify efforts to reform the power grid in central villages. Third, Develop the Tibet area agricultural network construction and speed up the networking of the counties in the provinces of Tibet, Xinjiang and Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai.

2016 is the decisive year for China to build a well-off society. As an important infrastructure, rural power grid plays an important role in improving the living quality of rural population and promoting rural poverty alleviation. In 2016, the national grid corporation of China planned to invest 439 billion RMB in power grid construction. It planned to complete 13,000 unconnected power generation projects in natural villages and 27,000 power generation projects in natural villages, so as to meet the need of connecting photovoltaic power stations in poverty alleviation, and to build a centralized photovoltaic power station project in five counties (districts) designated for poverty alleviation. Southern power grid has completed a new round of planning and implementation of agricultural network transformation and upgrading, and will build a safe and reliable rural power distribution network by 2020, with the reliability rate of rural power supply reaching 99.82% and above. At present, the first batch of more than 30,000 rural network construction and renovation projects have been fully started.

6. Great progress has been made in China's ultra high voltage (UHV) transmission projects

National grid construction transportation capacity, the largest in the world the farthest distance UHV power transmission project-- ±1100kv power transmission project in ZhunDong & south of Anhui.

China southern power grid has completed the flexible DC transmission project—Luxi back to back flexible DC project with the highest voltage grade and the largest transmission capacity in the world. .

On January 11, the mobilization meeting for the construction of the kilovolt UHV DC transmission project between ZhunDong-the south of Anhui, which has the highest voltage level, the largest transmission capacity, the longest transmission distance and the most advanced technology level in the world, was was held in Beijing. This project is an important milestone in the continuous innovation of national grid in the field of UHV transmission, which sets a new high for the world grid technology and opens a new era for the development of UHV transmission technology. It has a significant demonstration effect on the development of global energy Internet.

On August 30, the world's highest voltage grade and largest transmission capacity flexible DC transmission project — Luxi back to back DC project” flexible DC unit is built and put into operation. The project is the first back-to-back project in the world to adopt the combined mode of flexible and conventional DCs. The construction of the project not only enhances the overall safety stability of the main grid frame of the southern power grid, but also improves the transmission capacity of Yunnan power grid. The project has created many world firsts in this field. In addition to the world's first parallel operation mode of conventional and flexible linear units, the flexible linear units have a rated capacity of 1 million kw, DC voltage ± 350 kV, the voltage and capacity are the highest in the world at present, and the comprehensive autonomy rate of the project reaches 100%.

7. Solar thermal power generation ushered in the first year of great industrial development

On August 26, China's first large-scale solar thermal power station of 10MW molten salt storage was successfully put into operation in Qinghai province. It is also the third tower thermal power station with large-scale energy storage in the world. The technology and equipment of the whole-process molten salt energy storage tower type solar-thermal generation, which is independently developed in China, have been verified by large-scale engineering application and have conditions for large-scale popularization and application.It clears the way for the construction of demonstration projects to be launched soon, or will vigorously promote the popularization and application of solar thermal power generation in China, and promote China's energy revolution and energy transformation.

On September 1, the NDRC issued a notice on the Feed-in Tariff Policy for Benchmark Solar Thermal Power Generation. The feed-in tariff for benchmark solar thermal power generation is set at 1.15 RMB per kWH, and it is clear that the aforesaid tariff is only applicable to demonstration projects organized and implemented by the NEA in 2016.

On September 14, the NEA officially issued the National Energy Administration's Notice on the Construction of Solar Thermal Power Generation Demonstration Projects, identifying the first batch of 20 solar thermal power generation demonstration projects, including 9 tower power stations, 7 trough power stations and 4 Fresnel power stations, with a total installed capacity of 13.49 million kilowatts.

The development of photothermal power generation is an important way to promote energy supply side reform and achieve high proportion of renewable energy. During this period of “13th five-year plan”, China's solar thermal power generation capacity is expected to reach 10GW.

8. The targeted poverty alleviation model of electric power has been innovated and achieved more remarkable results　　

A new round of agricultural network transformation has been carried forward, and the level of electric power universal service has been significantly improved.

On March 23, the NDRC, Poverty Relief Office of the National Council, the NEA and other five departments jointly issued "the implementation of the photovoltaic poverty alleviation work opinion", urged all localities shall photovoltaic as assets gains an important way for poverty alleviation, further increase the intensity of work, add new strength to win the battle poverty. Since then, every link of the photovoltaic industry from top to bottom has been opened up.

On May 26, the state grid's first photovoltaic power station for poverty alleviation ─ ─ its sunlight action Madoi 10000 kw photovoltaic power station for poverty alleviation has connected to the grid, expected power generating capacity of up to 15.6 million kWH.

On October 17, two departments of the NEA and the Poverty Relief Office of the National Council jointly issued the notice on the issuance of the first batch of PV poverty alleviation projects. The first batch of projects, with a total scale of 5.16 million kW, will benefit about 20,000 impoverished villages in 14 provinces, and will increase the annual income of each of about 550,000 registered poor households by no less than 3,000 RMB.

9. Electric power replacement has become an important way to prevent air pollution and promote the transformation and upgrading of energy structure in China

On May 25, eight ministries, including the NDRC and the Energy Bureau, jointly issued the guidelines on promoting power generation replacement, clearly requiring gradual expansion of power generation replacement scope to form a clean, safe and intelligent new energy consumption mode. The opinions put forward four key areas: heating, production and manufacturing, transportation, and electricity consumption and supply.

The outline of the 13th five-year Plan for National Economic and Social Development clearly proposes clean energy replacement projects for small and medium-sized coal-fired facilities, urban villages and urban-rural areas. After that, the national ministries and commissions issued the policy requirements of replacing electric power by replacing coal with electricity in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, as well as special actions on prevention and control of ships and ports. Supporting policies have also been implemented in various places, such as Beijing introduced the "coal to electricity" supporting grid, electricity price, equipment subsidy policy; Jiangxi province gave a 40% increase in operating cost incentives for new energy bills for electric energy replacement projects, and a construction cost incentive that does not exceed 30% of the investment amount. On November 11, the China Power Alternative Industry Development Promotion Alliance was established.

10. One Belt and One Road cooperation in energy and electricity development was accelerated

General Secretary Jinping Xi talked about One Belt and One Road construction work, it was clearly required to focus on supporting strategic priority projects such as energy and resources development and utilization, and to take a more proactive stance in participating in comprehensive international cooperation. In 2016, energy cooperation has been progressing well, nuclear power has achieved important results. Hinkley Point C Nuclear Power Project has been launched in a substantive manner, and the multi-level dialogue and exchanges have been carried out in a pragmatic manner.

At 11:00 a.m. on January 10, Pakistan time, the construction of the Karot Hydropower Station of the Three Gorges Group was held and the main project started. It is reported that the Karot Hydropower Station is the first large-scale investment construction project of One Belt and One Road. It is also the first hydropower investment project in China-Pakistan economic corridor. The Karot Hydropower Station, built on the Jiram river-a tributary of the Indus river in northern Pakistan, is Pakistan's fifth-largest Hydropower Station with a capacity of 720,000 kW. The total investment of the project is about 1.65 billion US dollars and construction is invested by BOOT.

China's largest overseas hydropower project, the Ecuadorian Hinkley Hydropower Station, was completed and put into operation on November 18.

Top 10 energy news of 2016

1. Xi Jinping presided over the 14th meeting of the central leading group for financial and economic affairs

We will increase the proportion of clean heating

Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the National Council, Chairman of the Central Military Commission and the Head of the Central Leading Group for financial and economic affairs, chaired the 14th meeting of the central leading group for financial and economic affairs in the afternoon of December 21 to study the “13th five-year Plan”, identify the progress of 165 major projects in the program and efforts to address outstanding issues of common concern to the people.

Xi emphasized that the promotion of six issues such as clean heating in winter in the northern region is a major issue that concerns the lives of the people. The promotion of clean heating in winter in the northern region, the warm winter of the masses in the northern region, and the reduction of haze days are important contents of the energy production and consumption revolution and the rural lifestyle revolution. We should follow the policy of giving priority to enterprises, promoting the development of the government, and making people more affordable. We should use clean energy as much as possible and speed up the proportion of clean heating.

2. The coal industry overfulfilled its annual excess capacity reduction

On February 1, 2016, the national council issued the Opinions on the Coal Industry to Resolve Excess Capacity to Achieve Development. It says clearly starting from 2016, with in3 to 5 years, the coal industry wil deduct the production capacity of 500 million tons, decrement restructuring 500 million tons, in order to greatly compresse coal productivity, moderately reduce the amount of coal, coal industry effectively dissolve excess capacity, market basic balance between supply and demand, optimize industrial structure, transformation and upgrading to make substantive progress.

Since the start of the work on eliminating excess capacity, relevant national departments have issued eight supporting documents, and the coal industry has implemented a system of 276 working days to crack down illegal production. On April 21, 2016, the People's Bank of China, the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission jointly issued the Opinions on Supporting the Iron and Steel Coal Industry to Eliminate Overcapacity and Achieve Development to implement the national council's decision and arrangement on solving overcapacity and upgrading in the iron and steel industry. Since the second half of the year, the coal industry has gradually returned to rationality, and the supply and demand are basically balanced. As of December 12, 2016, the target of reducing coal capacity by 250 million tons was fulfilled ahead of schedule and over schedule.

3. The plan for energy development has been considered and adopted

On November 17, 2016, Keqiang Li, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Premier of the National council and Director of the National Energy Commission chaired a meeting of the national energy commission to review and implement the energy development “13th five-year Plan” for national economic and social development.

At the meeting, Li pointed out that the energy strategy is an important pillar of the country's development strategy. At present, in the face of the profound adjustment of the international energy supply and demand pattern and the new round of energy technology reform, China, as a major energy producer and consumer, must seize the opportunity, implement the new development concept, and take the supply-side structural reform as the main line. Promote energy consumption, supply, technology, institutional revolution and international cooperation, optimize energy structure, and strive to make up for shortcomings such as resource and environmental constraints, low quality and efficiency, weak infrastructure, and lack of key technologies in energy development, and enhance the competitiveness of the energy industry. To build a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient modern energy system to better support the sustained and stable development of the Chinese economy.

4. G20 energy ministers' meeting proposed to build a low-carbon and smart Shared energy future 

The 2016 G20 energy ministers' meeting was held at Yanqi Lake International Conference Center in Beijing on June 29, 2016. The G20 energy ministers' meeting is the professional ministers' meeting of the G20 Hangzhou Summit in September 2016. Building a low-carbon, smart and shared energy future. Officials from 27 countries and relevant international organizations attended the opening ceremony.

The convening of the meeting is one of the important measures taken by China to implement the Paris Agreement after the Paris Climate Change Conference in 2015, and also a key entry point for China to actively participate in international energy governance. The convening of the conference will enable China to deeply participate in the global energy governance, lead the international energy development direction and promote the One Belt One Road strategic implementation. Four outcome documents were produced. As the main document and outcome of the 2016 G20 energy ministers' meeting, the Beijing Communique highlighted the G20 members' willingness to take a leading role in addressing the common challenges of world energy development and to take concerted action to this end. Mainly includes, G20 members support and will actively implement the UN Sustainable Development Agenda in 2030, and the United Nations framework convention on climate change, the Paris Agreement and in the energy accessibility and consensus on energy accessibility, cleaner energy futures, energy efficiency, global energy architecture, inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage waste, market transparency, energy security, and more.

 5. The Paris Agreement entered into force

On November 4, 2016, the Paris Agreement on global joint response to climate change came into force, marking the journey of global countries to jointly promote global climate governance under a common legal constraint.

As one of the parties to the Paris Agreement, China has put forward a strong goal of national self-contribution. Including: First, China's carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP will be 60%-65% lower than in 2005; Second, by 2030, the share of non-fossil energy in total energy will rise to about 20 percent. Third, China's carbon dioxide emissions will peak by 2030 and strive to do so as soon as possible. Fourth, increase forest stock and carbon sink. By 2030, China's forest stock will increase by 4.5 billion cubic meters over 2005.

 6. Integrate PV poverty alleviation into national poverty alleviation strategy

On March 23, 2016, in order to effectively implement the spirit of the Central Poverty Alleviation and Development Work Conference and earnestly implement the requirement of the Decision of the Central Committee of the CCP and the National Council on winning the battle against poverty , the NDRC, Poverty Relief Office of the National Council, the NEA, China Development Bank, Agricultural Development Bank of China jointly issued on the implementation of the Photovoltaic Poverty Alleviation Work Opinion, urged all localities shall photovoltaic as assets gains an important way for poverty alleviation, further increase the intensity of work, add new strength to overcome poverty. So far, various links of the photovoltaic industry from top to bottom have been opened up.

7. The world's first ±1100 kV UHV project started

Jan 11, 2016, Zhundong-Southern Anhui Construction of ±1100kv UHV DC transmission project began. The engineering starting point of ZhunDong - Southern Anhui is located in Changji Autonomous Prefecture, Xin jiang; the finish point is located in Xuancheng, Anhui passing through Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Henan, Anhui provinces (areas). The newly built  , two converter stations were in Zhundong and Southern Anhui, in flow capacity of 24 million kV, line length 3324 km. The transmitting end converter station is connected to the 750 kV AC grid, and the receiving end converter station is layered into the 500/1000 kV AC grid. Construction investment of 40.7 billion RMB was approved by the NDRC in December 2015, and it was planned to be completed and put into operation in 2018.

 8. The NDRC and the NEA issued the action plan for innovation in energy technology revolution (2016-2030).

On June 1, 2016, the website of the NDRC of the People's Republic of China (NDRC) published the action plan on innovation of energy technology revolution (2016-2030) (hereinafter referred to as the plan), which defined the focus and direction of China's energy technology innovation in the future period, as well as the timetable and roadmap of key innovation actions.

There are key tasks in 15 areas of "the plan", covering coal mining technology innovation, innocuity of unconventional oil and gas deep, deep sea oil and gas development and technology innovation, clean coal utilization technology innovation, carbon dioxide capture, innovation in utilization and storage technology, advanced nuclear technology innovation, the spent fuel reprocessing and safe disposal of high-level radioactive waste disposal technology innovation, high efficiency solar energy technology innovation, large wind power technology innovation, hydrogen energy and fuel cell technology innovation, innovation in biomass, ocean and geothermal energy utilization technology, high efficiency gas turbine technology innovation, advanced energy storage technology innovation, modern power grid key technology innovation, energy Internet technology innovation, energy conservation and efficiency improvement technology innovation, etc.

 9. Reform of the electricity system was carried forward comprehensively

Since 2016, a reform of the power system has been carried out comprehensively. On November 27, 2016, the NDRC and the NEA approved Tianjin and Qinghai provinces to carry out comprehensive pilot projects on the reform of the power system. On November 30, 2016, Hunan provincial power reform comprehensive pilot program was approved. It is required to formulate and improve special pilot schemes for electricity transmission and distribution price reform, establishment of power trading institutions, construction of power market, opening up of power distribution plan and reform of power sales side according to the comprehensive pilot scheme, and submit them to the NDRC and the NEA for records. So far, the power reform pilot covers 29 provinces (regions, cities) and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. The pilot reform of electricity transmission and distribution will be extended to all provincial-level power grids except those in Tibet. In addition, the NEA has announced 105 incremental power distribution pilot projects.

 10. China, Britain and France signed the final agreement on Hinkley point nuclear power

On September 29, 2016, China, Britain and France signed the final investment agreement for Hinkley point C nuclear power project in London. This marks the launch of the flagship project in the "golden era" of china-uk relations after twists and turns, and the new generation of China's nuclear power technology, Hualong I, is expected to go to the sea.

On September 29, 2016, China General Nuclear Corporation (hereinafter referred to as “CGN group”), the Power Corporation of France (hereinafter referred to as “PCF”) formally signed the cooperation package agreement for new nuclear power projects in the UK, and simultaneously signed the government agreement on income and investment guarantee of Hinkley point C nuclear power project with the British government, and completed the equity settlement of relevant companies. This means that Hinkley point C has completed all necessary approvals and business processes.

In addition to Hinkley point C, CGNPC will work with PCF on two major nuclear power projects, Cessville C and Bradwell B. The Bradwell B project is led by CGNPC and participated by PCF. The investment of both parties in the project development stage will respectively take 66.5% and 33.5% of the shares and adopt the third-generation nuclear power technology “Hualong I” independently developed by China.