On 9 October 2022, the National Energy Administration issued the Action Plan for Enhancing Standardisation of Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality in the Energy Sector (hereinafter referred to as the Action Plan). The Action Plan is a standardisation-based, sector-specific ministerial response to the central government’s call for achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality.
The Action Plan, which is aimed at providing practical guidance and instructions, outlines general requirements as well as six key tasks and measures for implementation. In general, the Action Plan commits to promote standardisation in non-fossil energy, new power systems, new type of energy storage technology, hydrogen technology, energy efficiency, as well as carbon reduction along the entire industrial chain; each of these six areas is supplemented by one or several ad hoc actions, with specific targets and focus. Since the mission of standardisation is to contribute to development of the industry, all those six key areas reflect China’s priority directions in the near future.
It is also noteworthy that, according to the Administrative Measures on Standardisation in the Energy Sector released in 2019, there are two major government actors in energy-related standardisation: the National Energy Administration (NEA), and the Standardization Administration of China (SAC). With regards to standard formulation in the energy sector, the difference between the two is that NEA is responsible for formulation of sector standards, while SAC is in charge of national standards. The Action Plan targets the formulation of sector standards, which are largely voluntary except for cases involving engineering and construction. Therefore, theoretically, the standards indicated by the Action Plan will not be mandatory for market access of related product and services, but might help enterprises to gain edges in procurement and bidding competitions.
The Action Plan highlights that priority will first be given to those areas that are in urgent needs of standards. For instance, rapid technological developments in energy storage have made existing standards and specifications unable to meet the application demands. Especially in the power supply side, the power grid side and the user side, the energy storage application mode and requirements are different, mostly originating from the incompleteness of the standardisation system which, in turn, hinders the application of energy storage in the power industry. In response, the Action Plan puts forward corresponding measures, such as formulating Guidance on Building New-type of Energy Storage Standardisation System, aimed at harmonising those requirements and meeting the needs of the market.
In the press conference held on 14 November 2022, the director of NEA’s Energy Conservation and Technological Equipment Department clarified four major tasks: i) conducting research and establishing relevant standardisation systems; ii) formulating new standards and revising existing ones; iii) demonstrating good practices and examples of cooperation between the industry and standardisation bodies; iv) improving the standardisation management system.
In short, the Action Plan can be seen as a standardisation roadmap to reduce carbon emissions in the energy sector. Those sector standards formulated under the requirement of the Action Plan are expected to supplement national standards (indicating bottom requirements) by responding to and satisfying the urgent needs of the market. Yet, how those sector standards will fit in China’s broader initiatives to reduce carbon emissions and serve the advancement of the industry will need to be seen.
