Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, April 21, Title: Break the barriers to access, and private enterprises accelerate the layout of the energy field

Xinhua News Agency reporters Dai Xiaohe and Han Jianuo

Energy is the lifeblood of the national economy. In the first quarter of 2025, under the guidance of the "dual carbon" goal and the new energy security strategy, my country's energy supply is solid and powerful, and the industrial structure continues to be optimized. The reporter's investigation found that under the wave of transformation and upgrading of the national energy industry, more and more private enterprises are moving towards "green" and opening up new development space in accelerating the layout of the energy field.

March of spring, Daye, Hubei. The ±800 kV ultra-high voltage converter transformer independently developed by TBE Electric Group was installed at the Daye converter station to support the implementation of the "West-to-East Power Transmission" strategy.

Thousands of miles away, the coast of the Yellow Sea. my country's first "carbon neutral" offshore large megawatt fan - the Vision Energy offshore large megawatt wind turbine equipped with the world's first self-developed and self-made fully integrated transmission chain, was officially launched in Jiangsu.

All the way north, on the Inner Mongolia grassland, Edelman Hydrogen Energy's grid-side energy storage project has broken ground...

Since this year, from the construction of ultra-high voltage backbone grid frames to the manufacturing of new energy equipment, more private enterprises have deeply participated in the construction of a new energy system, and continue to make efforts in key areas such as power transmission, clean power generation, and flexible peak shaving.

"Continue to promote fair opening of infrastructure competitive fields to all types of business entities" - The private enterprise symposium held in February this year further sent a positive signal to break down market access barriers and promote the development of the private economy.

National Energy Administration spokesperson Zhang Xing said that this year, my country will increase its efforts to support capable private enterprises to participate in oil and gas exploration and development, power facility construction, etc. in various forms, and promote private enterprises to invest in the construction of new technologies, new business forms and new models such as new energy storage and smart microgrids.

The transformation from "high threshold" to "wide access" continues to stimulate new vitality in the development of private enterprises.

In the field of nuclear power, since 2020, private enterprises such as Geely Group and Wanxiang Group have participated in project investment through equity participation. The reporter learned from the National Energy Administration that the total investment of the five nuclear power projects recently approved in August 2024 is about 245.5 billion yuan, and all allocated 10% of the investment ratio of private enterprises.

Jiangsu's magical valves and upper cables, Zhejiang's Jiuli Special Materials, Ningbo's natural origin, Gansu's Fangda Carbon... As my country's nuclear power equipment manufacturing industry moves towards the high-end, a number of "specialized, specialized, and innovative" private enterprises have developed and grown.

The reporter learned that these private enterprises focus on sub-industry such as nuclear-grade valves, pipes, cables, seals, graphite materials, etc., have overcome a number of "bottleneck" technologies, complementing the advantages of large state-owned enterprises focusing on main equipment, and have become an important part of my country's nuclear power industry chain.

"Behind this is the coordinated efforts of policy guidance and market mechanisms." Zhang Xing said that the National Energy Administration and other departments have guided private enterprises to invest 5% to 8% of their revenue in core technology research by setting up the first (set of sets) equipment demonstration list, major scientific and technological projects and other policies. At the same time, relying on mechanisms such as "leading the list and taking the lead" and "horse racing to be the first" to build a collaborative platform for industry, academia, research and application will be shortened by an average of 18 months in the research and development cycle of cutting-edge technologies, and the patent conversion rate will increase by nearly 40% compared with three years ago.

The construction of an innovation ecosystem is promoting the accelerated growth of China's energy industry.

Vision Energy has become the world's first wind power manufacturer to realize self-developed and mass-produced sliding bearings. 500 units are equipped with zero failure of sliding bearings in batches, which strongly supports the large-scale development of fans;

The super alkaline water electrolysis hydrogen production equipment independently developed by Ruilin Hydrogen Energy is the first domestic model of successful operation of alkaline photovoltaic off-grid hydrogen production, and has obtained EU certification;

The corrosion-resistant electrolytic cell technology of hydrogen production by hydrogen production by hydrogen production has made the life of seawater hydrogen production equipment exceed 30,000 hours, laying the technical foundation for the implementation of the world's first 200MW-level offshore hydrogen energy platform...

These technological breakthroughs originated from private enterprises not only fill the domestic gap, but also promote my country to participate in the formulation of international energy technology rules.

Now, the openness of the energy field has continued to deepen, creating a good environment for private enterprises to participate in the development and construction of energy projects and providing broad space.

The latest data from the National Energy Administration shows that private enterprises account for about 60% of my country's wind power complete machine manufacturing enterprises, and most of the photovoltaic equipment manufacturing enterprises are private enterprises.

In the field of solar power generation, leading enterprises in various new energy storage technology routes such as CATL, Sungrow Power Supply, Dalian Rongke, and China Storage Guoneng have emerged, jointly promoting the progress of my country's new energy storage technology industry.

At present, there are more than 2,400 private power sales companies in my country, accounting for nearly 60% of the total number of power sales companies. Nearly 600,000 retail users purchased electricity through the retail market, and last year, the retail transaction electricity volume reached 3.6 trillion kilowatt-hours, accounting for 58% of the market-oriented transaction electricity.

In addition, new entities such as independent energy storage, virtual power plants, charging operators are booming, and new models and new business formats of friendly interaction between multiple entities are constantly emerging.

Recently, Shanghai has issued 26 work measures in 6 aspects to promote the high-quality development of the private economy, which clearly mentioned the introduction of support policies for power system regulation capacity building, and encouraged private enterprises to enter virtual power plants, vehicle-network interaction, new energy storage and other fields.

Now, there are more than 10,000 charging operators of various types in my country. Among the operators above the scale (operating more than 10,000 charging facilities), private enterprises account for more than 80%. The four operating companies with the largest facilities - Telaidian, Xingxing Charging, Yunfast Charging and Xiaoju Charging are all private enterprises, with a total market share of more than 50%.

From desert photovoltaics to deep-distance ocean wind power, from hydrogen energy heavy truck trunk lines to large-scale nuclear power projects... More and more private enterprises have become indispensable and important forces in the construction of a new energy system in the country with their technological advantages and market acumen, and move towards a brighter prospect in embracing green development.