The new power system requires the dual promotion of technology and policy.

Under the 'dual carbon' goals, the replacement of conventional units by new energy for power generation will bring three major challenges to the new power system. Guo Jianbo, Honorary President of China Electric Power Research Institute and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, believes that the new power system must strengthen technological innovation and promote application.

Guo Jianbo made the above remarks at the first "Jixia Electric Forum." On August 5, the inaugural "Jixia Electric Forum," jointly hosted by the Power System Professional Committee of the China Electrotechnical Society and Shandong University, attracted five academicians from the "Two Academies." Under the theme "Electricity Connecting Everything, Carbon Linking the Future," many domestic energy experts discussed China's energy development and the construction of a new power system.

The new power system faces a 'triangular' challenge.

It is understood that the construction of the new power system is an evolutionary process. From the proposal of the concept, the start of construction to full completion, achieving the goals of carbon peak and carbon neutrality involves different main contradictions and key elements at different stages. However, the long-standing main contradiction is how to resolve the 'contradiction triangle' of economy, safety, and environment.

Guo Jianbo believes that the new power system is a complex cyber-physical-social giant system that couples multiple industries and multiple energy sources with the power system as the hub platform. It is also a system newly defined and conceptualized based on the existing power system by combining old and new technologies, using new policies and regulations, new systems and mechanisms, new standards and norms, and new industrial foundations.

Under the 'dual carbon' goals, China's wind power, photovoltaic power, and other green power sources are developing rapidly. According to calculations by Academician Zhou Xiaoxin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, during the carbon neutrality phase, China will achieve a high proportion of 'green power substitution' of fossil energy power by non-fossil energy; among them, green hydrogen power generation may cooperate with wind and solar green power to replace fossil energy power generation in providing long-term energy storage and flexible regulation. It is expected that 'green power substitution' and 'green hydrogen substitution' for traditional fossil energy will be key measures to achieve the carbon neutrality goal of the new energy system and will play a decisive role in the future construction of the new energy power system.

Guo Jianbo believes that the three major challenges brought by new energy replacing conventional unit power generation to the new power system are: new energy resources have randomness, volatility, low density, and dispersion, making their power output extremely uneven in time and space and characterized by 'high installed capacity, low electricity generation,' bringing adequacy challenges; new energy power generation equipment has low disturbance resistance and weak support, with a prominent contradiction between fast controllable output and limited capacity; the contradiction between new energy's high contribution to energy transition and environment and its low contribution to adequacy and safety requires coordinating multiple stakeholders (multiple industries, multiple systems, multiple energies, multiple power sources) to balance responsibilities, rights, and interests and the relationship among safety, economy, and environment, bringing institutional and mechanism challenges. He pointed out that safety, economy, and environment are policy and technology-related indicators that require coordinated advancement of technology and policy.

Facing challenges head-on, government, industry, academia, and research all have responsibilities.

The weather in Jinan in August is hot, but the academicians' speeches pointed to several keywords—facing challenges head-on and responding calmly. As Li Shucai, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and President of Shandong University, said: The first "Jixia Electric Forum" is aligned with the demands of the times, strengthening responsibility and using the power of education to support the in-depth exploration and vivid practice of Chinese-style modernization.

With the rapid development of China's power system, the installed capacity continues to increase, the grid structure connections become closer, and the problem of short-circuit current exceeding limits has gradually become prominent, affecting the safe operation of the system and equipment. Academician Chen Weijiang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences introduced the basic principles, key technologies, and demonstration project applications of a flexible short-circuit current suppression method based on transient grid topology reconstruction, providing new ideas and methods to solve the above problems.

Under the new situation, the distribution system is a support platform for renewable energy consumption, a data platform integrating massive and diverse information, a trading platform involving multiple stakeholders, and a support and service platform for electrified transportation development. Its development faces multiple technical challenges in terms of flexibility, resilience, reliability, and controllability across time and space dimensions.

Academician Wang Chengshan of the Chinese Academy of Engineering believes that to address the above challenges, the new distribution system will develop and exhibit important characteristics such as low carbon, distributed, decentralized, and digitalized.

Therefore, it is very necessary to carry out academic discussions featuring a hundred schools of thought contending and a hundred flowers blooming. Wang Gang, Secretary-General of the China Electrotechnical Society, believes that promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of energy is a shared responsibility of the government, enterprises, academic societies, and research institutions. It requires joint efforts and deepened cooperation among all parties, accelerating technological and institutional innovation while conducting extensive technical exchanges and experience sharing.