Flexible coal-fired power plants – German experience sought after at GIZ workshop in Beijing

China has ambitious goals for the expansion of its renewable energy sector, with plans to increase primary energy consumption from 13.6% currently to 20% by 2030. Given that the country has a total installed capacity of ca. 1.650 GW currently, the absolute capacity growth is gigantic. The increased feed-in of volatile renewables leads to a situation in which thermal power plants (943 GW installed capacity in 2016) are increasingly confronted with the topic of flexible operation.

The "Technical Solutions for the Flexibilisation of Coal-Fired Power Plants – Experiences from Germany" workshop took place in Beijing on June 9, 2017, against this backdrop. It was jointly organized by the Chinese Electric Power Planning & Engineering Institute (EPPEI) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. In addition to VGB, representatives from Durag, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, RWE, Siemens, Steag Energy Services, VPC and Wallstein reported on their experiences with flexible power plant operation. The central message conveyed by the speakers was that the implementation of measures to make plants more flexible is less of a technical challenge than it is a commercial one. Stable framework conditions and a market design that honors flexibility are elementary prerequisites for sustainably transforming the energy system.

Officials from the National Energy Administration (NEA) and over 150 Chinese experts from state organizations such as EPPEI, power plant and network operators, and universities participated in the workshop. The exchange of experience feeds into the national demonstration program for flexible thermal power plants. The program comprises 22 power plant projects throughout China, which aim to increase the balancing capacity by 15–20% of nominal capacity and to reduce the minimum load to 30–35% of nominal capacity.

Sino-German Energy Partnership and CEM8 provide collaboration platform

The event is one activity of the Sino-German Energy Partnership, which was established in 2006. The bilateral energy partnership is implemented by GIZ GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) together with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the NEA. The Energy Partnership supports the policy dialogue at government-level, facilitates technical exchange among experts and connects the private sectors in both countries supporting business collaborations for mutual benefit. Prior to the event, the “Eighth Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM8)” took place. CEM8 is a global platform for the promotion of clean and sustainable energy supply, involving 24 countries and the European Commission. A highlight of the CEM8 was the kick-off of the "Advanced Power Plant Flexibility Campaign," in which interested companies and institutions can actively get involved.