Green power no longer wants to 'wander': The National Energy Administration has unveiled a major action plan, aiming to develop a batch of new energy bases for self-consumption.

(This article was authored by ForeSight Energy and published by TMTPost with authorization.)

According to the latest findings from Vision Energy, on July 10, the National Energy Administration released the 'Energy Sector Action Plan for Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction (2026–2028),' which specifically emphasized the need to 'develop a number of large-scale renewable energy bases primarily for self-consumption.' This phrasing may seem understated, but its actual significance is substantial.

In recent years, the industry has grown accustomed to grand narratives like 'deserts, Gobi, and barren lands' or 'west-to-east power transmission.' However, grid integration capacity constraints and peak-shaving pressures are making this long-distance transmission model increasingly strained. How to prevent green electricity from 'wandering aimlessly' has become a new challenge.

In Mulei County, Xinjiang, at an altitude of 2,350 meters along a mountain ridge, 87 wind turbines directly channel green electricity via dedicated lines into the electrolytic aluminum workshops of Henan Shenhuo Group. In Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia, servers at CICC Data’s data center run on green power transmitted directly from a wind farm just 18 kilometers away.

These 'direct green power supply' scenarios precisely illustrate the policy shift: encouraging energy-intensive industries to proactively seek out green power, rather than forcing green power to passively search for markets.

This transition in power absorption—from 'external transmission' to 'self-consumption'—is already unfolding across several micro-level examples.

Data centers are power-hungry, but policymakers want them to act as 'sponges' that absorb intermittent renewable energy.

CICC Data’s zero-carbon computing base in Ulanqab is a typical case in point.

The site is planned to have a total IT load of 360 megawatts, with an annual designed electricity consumption of up to 2.1 billion kilowatt-hours—equivalent to the yearly usage of a medium-sized county. However, the base is paired with a 300-megawatt integrated wind-solar-storage power station, connected via a dedicated 220-kilovolt line, achieving nearly 100% self-consumption of green electricity.

The brilliance of this model lies in the currently trending concept of 'coordinated power and computing.' During midday, when photovoltaic generation peaks, data centers shift their AI training workloads to that time; at night, when wind power output is high, they schedule data backups.

This not only maximizes green electricity consumption but also leverages off-peak and peak electricity price differentials to lower costs. The project achieves a PUE below 1.2 and a green electricity substitution rate of 40%. Power and computing are no longer managed separately but are orchestrated by a single 'intelligent brain.'

The policy directive to 'promote coordinated planning between renewable energy bases and computing infrastructure' is here realized as a replicable cost formula.

According to estimates, the project saves 230,000 tons of standard coal annually and reduces carbon emissions by 567,000 tons per year.

The competitiveness of green electricity now stems not from subsidies but from its deep integration with energy-intensive industries.

China’s current reality is that coal-fired power still accounts for a relatively high share, but the policy approach is no longer about simple shutdowns—instead, it’s about transforming them.

The newly commissioned 1,000 MWh molten salt thermal energy storage project at State Energy Group’s Suzhou Power Plant is the largest 'coal-fired power plus molten salt' project nationwide. It stores thermal energy in molten salt at 390°C during periods of low electricity demand and releases it during peak hours. This enables the plant to maintain heating supply while achieving deep load-following capability down to 30% of capacity.

This isn’t about phasing out coal power but rather shifting its role from 'primary power generator' to 'flexibility enabler.'

The molten salt thermal storage system acts like a 'power bank,' resolving the long-standing constraint of 'heat-led power generation' that has limited the operational flexibility of coal-fired plants.

After the project comes online, it will increase renewable energy integration capacity by approximately 128 million kilowatt-hours annually and reduce carbon emissions by about 85,000 tons.

Insight Energy believes the key takeaway from this case is that coal-fired power and renewables can use thermal energy storage as a 'buffer' to transform intermittent wind and solar into dispatchable, high-quality power. This provides a concrete example of the policy directive calling for 'peak-shaving coordination between coal-fired power and renewables through thermal energy storage.'

Self-consumption of renewable power at oil, gas, and coal operations feels more grounded and practical.

According to Insight Energy, as of June this year, Dagang Oilfield has generated over 600 million kilowatt-hours of green electricity cumulatively. By installing distributed photovoltaic systems on idle well-site areas within oil-producing zones, the field supplies its own pumping units, reducing annual external electricity purchases by 124 million kilowatt-hours. Its total installed PV capacity now stands at 317 megawatts, with clean power gradually covering the entire oil and gas production process.

Jilin Oilfield has gone even further—treating new energy as its 'core new business.'

In 2024, pre-tax profits from its new energy segment accounted for more than one-third of the group’s total. The share of green electricity rose from zero to 28%, while total carbon emissions fell by 13%. Its Angge 550-megawatt wind power project generates 900 million kilowatt-hours annually, delivering net profits exceeding RMB 600 million.

Mining areas are no longer just major electricity consumers—they have become power-generating energy hubs.

Policies require 'fully utilizing subsidence areas from coal mining, industrial plazas, and other sites for local development of solar and wind power' and promoting the electrification of mining trucks ('diesel-to-electric' conversions).

When electric heavy-duty trucks in mining areas run on electricity generated by rooftop photovoltaic systems, the carbon footprint of fossil fuel extraction itself shrinks—offering more meaningful upstream decarbonization than merely reducing refined oil consumption.

According to Yujian Energy, the core of this transformation lies not in a simple increase in green power generation, but in deep integration. In practice, industrial microgrids, zero-carbon industrial parks, and coordinated computing-power-and-electricity systems all aim to avoid repeating the spatial and temporal mismatch epitomized by 'building power plants in western China while eastern regions complain of power shortages.'

The Mengsu Economic Development Zone in Ordos has been included in China’s first batch of nationally designated zero-carbon industrial parks and is striving to achieve nearly 100% direct green power supply through coordination among the main grid, incremental distribution networks, and microgrids.

This demonstrates that as long as industrial coordination is well executed, green electricity can be fully consumed locally in a closed loop without competing for transmission capacity.

Over the next three years, the key focus will not be how fast wind turbines spin, but whether electrolytic aluminum workshops, data centers, and mine-site EV charging stations can become the most steadfast adopters of green power. Only when electricity and industry are no longer decoupled will energy conservation and carbon reduction truly become embedded in the fabric of the economy.

Below is the original text from the National Energy Administration:

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