The introduction of capacity electricity prices is to improve the current living environment of coal power and provide it with minimum living conditions. Otherwise, existing coal power may fend for itself, and incremental coal power investment will be neglected.
I can't ask for it, but I can't think about it. In the ardent anticipation of coal-fired power companies, the capacity electricity price is finally half-covered by the pipa, and the money is coming, and the hanging hearts are in danger and fall safely.
A few days ago, the National Energy Administration jointly issued the "Notice on the Establishment of a Coal-fired Power Capacity Electricity Price Mechanism" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), clarifying that a coal-fired power capacity electricity price mechanism will be established from January 1, 2024.
According to the Notice, the capacity price level is reasonably determined and gradually adjusted according to the actual situation such as the progress of transformation, which fully reflects the support and adjustment value of coal power to the power system and ensures the sustainable and healthy operation of the coal power industry.
For coal-fired power companies that are teetering on the brink of life and death, this move has undoubtedly brought a ray of life.
In recent years, the living environment of coal power has become more and more cramped due to multiple factors such as the constraints of "dual carbon", the rise of thermal coal, the intensification of pressure to ensure supply, and the crowding out of new energy power generation. Although it tried its best to survive in the cracks, there was no power to return to the sky, and a "moat" in electricity prices cut off the channel of its cost channel, so it could only sigh and resign itself to fate.
"Don't touch coal power" seems to have become a tacit understanding of traditional power investors, so when the proportion of new energy power generation in power generation groups exceeds that of coal-fired power generation, cheers;When the delay has not passed, he feels sorry for himself, and he feels shameless to see Jiangdong's father.
In fact, the power generation group is irreproachable, and who will do the business of losing money and making money?What's more, investing in coal power can't even make money. Instead of investing in coal power, it is better to make a fortune and develop new energy.
However, in the process of building a new power system, coal power has been given the role and status of flexible regulation and guarantee, so the "dual carbon" journey must be escorted by coal power. The introduction of capacity electricity prices is to improve the current living environment of coal power and provide it with minimum living conditions. Otherwise, existing coal power may fend for itself, and incremental coal power investment will be neglected.
Considering the existing power system conditions, if there is no active participation of coal power, then the construction of a new power system can only be a castle in the air, and reliable power must be "no branches".
It must be noted that the capacity price is not a "gold medal for avoiding death", which is not enough to fully compensate for the fixed costs of coal-fired power units, and at best can only be regarded as a "life-sustaining pill" for coal-fired power operations.
Therefore, it is not advisable to "lie flat", and it is impossible to "win by lying down". Coal-fired power companies must not sit back and enjoy the benefits of this. Only by further tapping the potential inwardly, further improving the market competitiveness outwardly, and cultivating both internally and externally, can we settle down in the "transformation".
The brilliance of the capacity electricity price policy has left a "late shine" on coal-fired power companies. First of all, on the road to the "dual carbon" goal, as new energy power generation companies follow up and join step by step, some coal power companies are gone. This process may be long, but it is the trend of the times.
Secondly, the introduction of capacity electricity prices can be described as an expedient measure to meet the needs of the market: coal power is needed for power transformation and upgrading, and the survival of coal power enterprises is in urgent need of rescue.
However, if we look at the capacity price policy in the context of electricity market-oriented reform, it is not difficult to find that it is still a transitional plan, and will eventually fade out of people's vision and be replaced by a new plan.
Society is always full of contradictions. The power system is no exception, especially in the process of power transformation and upgrading, the problem is more prominent.
In the past two years, the new problems and new contradictions in the reform of the electricity market have all pointed to the reform of electricity prices, and if the existing electricity price mechanism cannot be further relaxed, it will be difficult to give full play to the decisive role of the market in the allocation of resources. On the contrary, by improving the electricity price mechanism, the cost of transformation and development of power enterprises will be channeled, so that all will be smooth, and all will be smooth. Otherwise, problems and contradictions will continue to arise again and again, and this kind of hasty "whack-a-mole" style of handling will continue.
Of course, with the deepening of the marketization of electricity, various transition plans, including capacity electricity prices, will eventually reach the other side and return to the market.
This article was published in the December 2023 issue of the first issue of China Electric Power Enterprise Management, and the author is Guan Yongsheng, president and editor-in-chief of this journal.