Development trends and countermeasures for China’s gas-fired power sector in the context of building new energy systems

Objective Natural gas power generation (hereinafter referred to as “gas-fired power”) is characterized by its flexible start-stop capabilities, high ramp rates, wide regulation ranges, and low carbon emissions. It is regarded as one of the most important high-quality power sources for peak shaving and frequency control in power systems. However, in the effort to establish new energy systems, the gas-fired power sector faces various challenges and issues that impede its path toward achieving high-quality development.

Methods By investigating and statistically analyzing the current status of China’s gas-fired power industry, it was found that gas-fired power serves as an irreplaceable source of regulatory and supportive energy necessary for achieving the goal of establishing new energy systems. However, several bottlenecks were identified in the coordinated development of gas-fired power alongside new energy sources. Given the characteristics of intermittency, inverse peak shaving, fluctuations, and randomness associated with power generation from renewable sources, such as wind and solar energy, there is a heavy reliance on natural gas generator sets to enable deep peak shaving for supply assurance during peak periods. This dependency poses significant challenges to the safety, environmental protection, and economic efficiency of essential power generation equipment. Additionally, this study underscored notable shortcomings within the gas-fired power industry, particularly concerning energy supply assurance, economic efficiency, and production scheduling. There also remains a pressing need to optimize the development pathway and deepen the understanding of option features.

Results The following suggestions, focused on high-quality development, are proposed to steadily enhance the supply capacity of the gas-fired power industry. (1) Adhere to the coordinated development of gas-fired power and new energy sources, improve the top-level design of gas-fired power, and introduce policies to guide the implementation of detailed rules. (2) Encourage collaboration between natural gas supply enterprises and natural gas power generation companies to jointly develop “gas-fired power + new energy” projects through medium- and long-term sales agreements, ensuring the sustainable development of gas-fired power supply. (3) Intensify the market-oriented reform of power and natural gas supply and explore the establishment of a gas-electricity linkage mechanism, to ensure a stable and smooth gas and power supply for people’s livelihood.

Conclusion The driving factors behind the development of the gas-fired power industry have shifted from primarily relying on gas sources to a combination of multiple considerations, including environmental protection policies, electricity supply and demand dynamics, gas source reliability, and economic efficiency. It is recommended to strengthen the top-level design, emphasize comprehensive planning that takes all factors into account, and maintain a focus on deep integration, to maximize the developmental advantages of the entire industrial chain, ultimately boosting the establishment of new energy systems.