China and Germany resume direct exchanges on power market design and system integration of renewable energy

On 31 October, the Chinese National Energy Administration (NEA) led a delegation to Berlin for a two-day exchange and discussion with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), power regulators, think tanks and enterprises on topics such as the German power market and renewable energy integration.

This is the first time since the outbreak of the Covid-pandemic in late 2019 that NEA sent a delegation to Europe. The delegation consisted of officials and experts from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), China Southern Power Grid, and the Electric Power Planning & Engineering Institute (EPPEI). On the German side, BMWK officials, representatives from the European Commission, and experts from the Federal Network Agency, Agora Energiewende, the German Energy Agency (dena), the Energy Storage Systems Association (BVES), the European Energy Exchange (EEX), Carboneer, Amprion and Netze BW participated in the two day exchange. GIZ supported the organization of the visit on behalf of BMWK.

Against the background of Chinese President Xi’s pledge to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2060, China’s energy regulators are under increasing pressure to accelerate the country’s energy transition. The trip thus served to learn from German experience, gain insights into the German power market and system integration of renewables, and the German climate and energy policy in light of Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine. The exchange also provided participants on the German side with first-hand information on China's current energy development, dual carbon targets and measures.

In the early morning of 31 October, Mr. Patrick Graichen, State Secretary at BMWK, held a bilateral meeting with Mr. Huang Xuenong, General Supervisor of NEA.

Mr. Graichen underlined both countries’ common goal to reach climate neutrality by mid-century (Germany: 2045, China: 2060). He presented Germany's response to the energy crisis caused by Russia’s war against Ukraine and the next steps in the energy transition. Those include, amongst others, efforts to improve energy efficiency and to accelerate the development of renewable energies. Mr. Graichen also asked about China's coal policy and hoped that both Germany and China would increase their efforts to achieve the 1.5 degree target.

Mr. Huang gave an overview of the energy cooperation between Germany and China at the 10th meeting of the Sino-German Working Group on Energy earlier this year (link). He presented the status of China's energy transition. Mr. Huang showed that renewable energy capacities had reached 1000 GW, accounting for 45% of the total generation capacity. In addition, he also shared China’s determination to reduce coal utilization, while promoting the clean and efficient use of coal. China has retrofited 150GW coal-fired capacity to increase system flexibility and the share of coal-fired power generation has been decreasing. Mr. Huang expressed his hope that by strengthening Sino-German cooperation, both countries would jointly contribute to global climate protection.

Finally, Dr. Graichen suggested to continue to strengthen cooperation in the fields of coal exit, power market design and renewable energy integration. Mr. Huang suggested to additionally strengthen the cooperation in fields such as distributed energy, hydrogen energy and power sector flexibility.

The Sino-German Energy Partnership provides a platform for the regulatory, economic and technical exchange on both country’s energy transitions. To get in touch, contact Ms. Yuxia Yin (yuxia.yin(at)giz.de).