The "14th Five-Year Plan" period is the first five years of China's new journey to comprehensively build a modern socialist country, and it is also an important window period for energy transformation since China put forward the goal of "carbon peak and carbon neutrality". As an important part of the power grid, the distribution network directly faces the majority of electricity customers, is a key hub connecting energy production and consumption, is the basic platform serving the country to achieve the goal of "carbon peak, carbon neutrality", and is also an important basis for building the energy Internet.

What opportunities and challenges does the development of distribution network face during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period? And how to achieve high-quality development and transformation and upgrading?

Economic and social development puts forward higher requirements for distribution network

With the transformation of the mode of economic development, the acceleration of urbanization, the optimization and upgrading of the energy structure, and the gradual deepening of the reform of the power system, the distribution network will enter a new stage of development during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, and it is necessary to coordinate the safety quality and efficiency and benefit, and continue to evolve into a safe and reliable, green and intelligent, friendly and interactive, economical and efficient smart distribution network.

To implement the central decision-making and deployment, the distribution network needs to improve the universal service capacity. During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, China completed a new round of rural power grid upgrading, power grid construction in poor areas and other key special projects. With the deepening of the regional coordinated development and rural revitalization strategy during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the distribution network, as an important role in serving the national economy and people's livelihood, needs to eliminate security risks and make up for development weaknesses to meet the people's energy needs for a better life.

To promote high-quality economic and social development, the distribution network needs to improve its power supply guarantee capacity. China is speeding up the construction of a new development pattern with the domestic cycle as the main body and the domestic and international cycles promoting each other. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's economy is in the key period of transforming the development mode, optimizing the structure and transforming the growth momentum. At the same time, with the acceleration of the construction of "two new and one heavy", the domestic economy will maintain medium-high growth, and the distribution network needs to develop moderately ahead of schedule and continue to enhance the power supply security ability to meet the demand for electricity in economic and social development.

To promote the revolution of energy production and consumption, the distribution network needs to improve the comprehensive carrying capacity.  In the "14th Five-Year Plan" and even in the future for a long time, energy conservation and emission reduction will become an important theme in the development of the power field. With the rapid development of renewable energy, the penetration rate of distributed power supply and the proportion of electric energy in terminal energy consumption will continue to increase, and the distribution network needs to have a strong comprehensive carrying capacity to meet the needs of full consumption of clean energy and flexible access to diversified loads.

To promote the construction of energy Internet enterprises, the distribution network needs to enhance the value creation ability. State Grid Corporation Limited has determined the strategic goal of building an international leading energy Internet enterprise with Chinese characteristics. To promote the implementation of the strategy, it is necessary to strengthen the integrated development of traditional power grids and digital infrastructure, further apply advanced energy and power technologies and information communication and control technologies, improve the digitalization, automation and intelligence level of distribution networks, and constantly expand the depth and breadth of multi-energy coupling and complementarization and multi-aggregation interaction, promote resource integration and sharing, cultivate new business forms, and create new value.

To pursue the international leading level, the distribution network needs to improve efficiency and efficiency. Maintaining and increasing the value of state-owned assets is the primary responsibility of state-owned enterprises. The State Grid Corporation is one of the first central enterprises to create world-class demonstration enterprises, and the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration also put forward strict requirements for power grid planning and investment. Distribution networks involve a wide range of investment accounts for a large proportion, in promoting the high-quality development of companies and power grids bear greater responsibility, need to be driven by investment to benefit efficiency.

We will build a distribution network commensurate with the level of economic and social development

Under the new situation, the development of distribution network needs to strengthen demand orientation, focus on the main line of "supply and demand - grid - information - value", combined with the external economic and social, policy environment and enterprise internal operation development, business innovation and other needs for energy and power development, to connect supply and demand with grid, to support operation with information, and jointly achieve value creation.

Considering that the energy Internet has the characteristics of hierarchical and regional differentiation, involving power grid, digitalization, industry and other fields, power grid enterprises need to strengthen professional, hierarchical and regional connectivity, promote the planning and design of differentiated and multi-form distribution networks, promote the coordinated development of source network load and storage, and do a good job in the professional coordination of power grid primary, secondary and information technology and hierarchical planning linkage. We will build distribution networks in accordance with local conditions that are compatible with our energy and resource endowments and economic and social development levels.

Adhere to the bottom line of safety. Strengthen the safety bottom line thinking, make up for the shortcomings of power grid development, eliminate major safety hazards, gradually solve the problem of weak links between county power grids and the main network, improve the power grid's ability to withstand natural disasters, improve the emergency support level of important load centers, and constantly consolidate the essential safety foundation.

We will pursue green development. To meet electricity demand in a clean and low-carbon way, and continuously improve the consumption capacity of distributed photovoltaic, distributed wind power and other clean energy, to serve clean energy production; Vigorously promote the replacement of electric energy, steadily increase the proportion of electric energy in terminal energy consumption, help the electrification of energy consumption, and achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality in the energy sector at an early date.

Adhere to moderate advance. Based on saturated load, overall planning of near - and long-term construction needs, moderate advance planning of substation distribution in areas such as hot spots of economic development and tight construction environment, increase substation capacity, optimize substation outlet, strengthen communication between stations, enhance load transfer capacity, and ensure that the power grid maintains a reasonable power supply capacity margin and safety and reliability level.

Insist on improving quality and efficiency. Make good use of the stock, do the best increment, and carry out construction and renovation simultaneously, optimize the distribution network planning scheme and construction timing, vigorously reduce costs, tap potential and increase efficiency, accurately match customer needs, and improve input-output efficiency.

Insist on wisdom promotion. With the support of advanced automatic control, information and communication, and intelligent sensing technologies, digital technologies are used to empower the traditional distribution network, constantly improve the perception ability, interaction level and operation efficiency of the distribution network, promote the coordination and interaction of the load and storage of the source network, build a smart energy system, create new business forms and new models, and create an energy Internet ecosystem.

For the State Grid Corporation, the development of the distribution network should also start from serving the national strategy, refine specific tasks and objectives in promoting the implementation of the company's strategy, and promote the construction of the energy Internet.

Distribution network planning starts from energy grid, information support and value creation

The distribution network covers all the links of power production, transmission, storage and consumption, and has all the elements of the energy Internet, which is the material basis for the development of new businesses, new formats and new models. The value creation of the energy Internet depends more on the business extension of the distribution network and the construction of the information support system of the distribution network. Accordingly, during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the distribution network planning of the State Grid Company should be fully extended from the traditional physical grid planning to the three major systems of energy grid, information support and value creation, promote the construction of a smart energy system centered on electricity, and accelerate the transformation and upgrading of the traditional power grid to the energy Internet.

● Distribution network frame

Strengthen power grid security, combined with power grid construction and renovation projects, comprehensively eliminate the hidden dangers of power grid security accidents of level 4 and above that need to be eliminated through planning projects, build strong local power grids according to local conditions, gradually solve the problem of weak connections of county power grids, and improve the essential security level of power grids.

Serve the improvement of people's livelihood, serve rural construction actions, continue to enhance the power supply service capacity in poverty-stricken areas, promote the extension of large power grids, and improve the level of universal service.

Meet the new demand, serve the construction of "two new and one heavy", and carry out the regional power grid layout in advance; Serve the city's business environment optimization, and further improve the city's distribution network resource allocation and security capabilities; To serve the construction of beautiful rural areas and improve the level of rural production, life and industrial electrification; We will renovate power grids in old communities and counties to meet people's demand for electricity to improve their lives.

Create international leading, service center city and urban agglomeration construction, relying on large power supply enterprises urban distribution network, strengthen the coordination with urban planning. According to the city positioning and development level, the international leading urban distribution network with strong, simple and orderly structure, scientific and reasonable classification, wiring standards and advanced and applicable equipment will be built in stages.

● Information support

Deepen the collection and perception, strengthen the construction of distribution network perception terminals, extend and expand to the user side, build information perception infrastructure that is compatible with the intelligent regulation, intelligent operation and inspection, and intelligent electricity consumption of the distribution network, and improve the real-time perception, extensive interconnection, and security and controllability of the power grid.

Improve the transmission network, apply advanced communication technologies, optimize resource allocation, improve the safety and reliability of optical cable network, bandwidth carrying capacity, and flexible terminal access capability, and form an integrated electric power communication network with comprehensive coverage, flexible expansion, and efficient management and control.

Improve processing capabilities, establish an information processing platform for "enterprise global reuse and data fusion and sharing", build core infrastructure for information support, build resource sharing pools, eliminate "data islands", and improve technical capabilities for basic resource allocation and common services.

Support business applications, promote the construction of a new generation of dispatch automation systems, strengthen the coordinated management and control of transmission and distribution grids, and strengthen the multiple interaction between source and network load and storage; Steadily promote the construction of a new generation of distribution automation systems, support the large-scale access of distribution iot terminals, and meet the needs of diversified load development.

Strengthen security protection, build a full-scene network security protection system with clear responsibilities, sound systems, advanced technologies, and full coverage of assets, and comprehensively improve security capabilities and service levels.

● Value development

Promote clean energy production, strengthen the interconnection and intelligent control of distribution networks, continue to improve two-way interaction, transfer of supply, and peak load balancing capacity, promote the healthy development and local consumption of clean energy, promote the transformation of the energy structure, and help achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality in the energy sector.

Promote the electrification of energy consumption, combine with the extension of the grid of the distribution network, steadily expand the depth and breadth of electric energy substitution in key areas such as industrial and agricultural production, transportation, residential heating, and household electrification, and accelerate the process of social electrification.

Promote efficient energy use, build a local energy management system covering all coupled energy sources, and promote the integration and complementarity of electricity, gas, heat and cold energy, so as to realize flexible energy conversion on demand, complement each other's advantages, and improve energy efficiency. Relying on vehicle-to-grid (V2G), virtual power plant and other technologies, access to electric vehicles, energy use terminals, energy storage and other multiple entities, promote multiple aggregation and interaction of various entities, and improve the efficiency of load and storage operation of the source network.

Promote the sharing of basic resources, and further carry out multi-station integration, big data operation and other businesses by sharing power grid infrastructure resources such as power towers, cable trenches, and communication optical fibers, deeply tap the sharing channels and commercialization potential, and release the value of power grid resources.