Two departments: carry out grid investment and construction moderately ahead of schedule, and encourage eligible private capital to participate in grid investment and construction

The Zhitong Finance App learned that on December 31, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration jointly issued the “Guiding Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Development of Power Grids”. Among them, it is proposed to increase investment in power grids. Implement the country's major strategic plans, carry out power grid investment and construction moderately ahead of schedule, step up efforts to upgrade existing power grids, and guarantee the construction of new power systems. Encourage eligible private capital to participate in grid investment and construction. Optimize the investment and operation assessment management mechanism for power grid enterprises.

The original text is as follows:

The National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration on promoting

Guidance for high-quality development of power grids

Development and Reform Energy [2025] No. 1710

All provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Development and Reform Commission, the Energy Administration, various agencies dispatched by the National Energy Administration, and relevant central enterprises:

As a hub platform connecting electricity production and consumption, the power grid is the core link for speeding up the construction of new power systems. In order to meet the needs of a green and low-carbon energy transition, support the large-scale and high-proportion development of new energy sources, ensure the safe operation of large power grids and the reliable supply of electricity, serve the construction of a unified national electricity market, and meet the people's demand for high-quality electricity, the following opinions are put forward on promoting high-quality power grid development.

I. General Requirements

Guided by Xi Jinping's ideology of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress and 20th Plenary Session of the Party, fully, accurately and comprehensively implement the new development concept, implement the “four revolutions, one cooperation” new energy security strategy, thoroughly implement the energy law, give full play to the advantages of the new national system, insist on “unified planning and construction, coordinated operation control, integrated safety management, and innovative technology management”, accelerate the construction of a new grid platform with micro collaboration, improve the natural monopoly business supervision mechanism for the promotion of Chinese-style modernization.

By 2030, a new grid platform with the backbone grid and distribution grid as an important foundation and a smart microgrid as a useful complement will be initially built. The main microgrid forms an organic whole with clear interfaces, perfect functions, intelligent operation, and efficient interaction. The ability to optimize the allocation of power grid resources has been effectively enhanced. The scale of “West-East Power Transmission” exceeds 420 million kilowatts, supports about 30% of new energy generation, supports 900 million kilowatts of distributed new energy generation capacity, supports more than 40 million units of charging infrastructure, the basic role of public grids is fully exploited, smart microgrids are diversified, and the power system has maintained stable operation, and the electricity consumption service for people's livelihood is more powerful.

By 2035, the development of backbone power grids, distribution grids and smart microgrids will be fully coordinated, and the safety management mechanism for power grids at all levels will be more complete. The level of intelligence and digitalization of power grid facilities will improve markedly, effectively support the safe and stable operation of new power systems and the healthy development of various grid-connected entities, support the achievement of national independent contribution goals, and provide strong power guarantees for basic socialist modernization.

II. Clarify the functional positioning of the new grid platform

(1) Strengthen the role of a new type of power system hub platform. Actively adapt to the safety and stability of new energy high penetration power systems, efficient consumption of new energy sources, and power system reform requirements, support the construction of a unified national power market, build a new power grid platform that is safe, reliable, flexible and controllable, flexible, efficient and intelligent integration, strengthen multi-level collaborative planning, construction and operation of backbone grids, distribution grids and smart microgrids, give full play to the role of various power sources, achieve comprehensive balance in the power system, and promote the free flow of electricity energy over a wide area.

(2) Consolidate the positioning of power grid public infrastructure attributes. Adhere to the core concept and service purpose of “People's Electric Industry for the People”, guarantee and improve people's livelihood in high-quality development, improve the general service level of electricity, and meet the diverse electricity needs of the people. Raise the level of fair openness of power grids to all types of grid-connected entities, optimize technical standards and management processes for grid-connected access, and serve the healthy development of new power formats such as distributed energy, integrated source network load storage, direct green power connections, and virtual power plants.

III. Strengthen unified planning and construction of power grids at all levels

(3) Optimize the pattern of collaborative development of main distribution microgrids. Adhere to unified planning and promote the development of backbone power grids, distribution grids and smart microgrids in an integrated manner. The backbone power grid establishes the foundation of power safety and security, consolidates the physical foundation of a unified national electricity market, and supports the wide-area allocation of clean energy resources. The distribution grid is fully coupled with the backbone grid, carrying open access and two-way interaction with diversified sources, supporting the rational development of distributed new energy sources, and comprehensively enhancing power supply guarantee capabilities. As a new power carrier with self-balancing and self-regulation capabilities, smart microgrids support multi-agent access, integrate green energy use scenarios for end users, promote the nearby development and local consumption of new energy sources, and improve the reliability level of power supply in remote areas and power grid terminals.

(4) Promote the planning and construction of transmission channels across provinces and regions in an orderly manner. Adhere to the national “one game of chess”, be demand-oriented, scientifically optimize the country's electricity flow, and serve the development, delivery and consumption of clean energy bases such as the “Shagou Desert” and water scenery. Ensure the safety of large power grids, make every effort to break down corridor constraints, and maintain a reasonable pace of planning and construction of transmission channels. Combined with electricity market price signals, transmission efficiency and economy are improved, and the share of clean energy transmission is steadily increased. Promote the transformation and upgrading of existing transmission channels where conditions are met.

(5) Optimize and upgrade the backbone grid structure of the power grid. Adhere to the national network pattern with synchronous power grids in the six major regions as the main body, and promote the coordinated development of the AC, DC, transmission and reception ends of the power grid. Strengthen interregional and interprovincial power grid communication and mutual aid capabilities, support mutual aid between erroneous peaks, and promote the sharing of backup capacity and adjustable resources. Hierarchical zoning optimizes special (ultra) high voltage AC grids, and explores and verifies the flexible layout of local DC networks. Coordinate the planning and construction of offshore transmission networks, and explore integrated land and sea planning and construction models according to local conditions. Continue to promote the construction of power grids in frontier regions and steadily promote cross-border power interconnection cooperation.

(6) Accelerate the construction of new power distribution systems. Implement the requirements of the new urbanization and rural revitalization strategies, plan the layout of power conversion and distribution facilities moderately ahead of schedule, and raise local planning design and disaster prevention and control standards in a differentiated manner. Promote the flexible, intelligent and digital transformation of distribution grids, transform distribution grids from traditional passive unidirectional radiation networks to active two-way interactive systems, support the construction of distributed independent energy storage and alternative energy storage for power grids, and raise the level of interaction between distribution grids and various new grid-connected power formats. Improve the incremental distribution grid development policy.

(7) Plan and build smart microgrids according to local conditions. Taking into account efficiency and fairness, with the goal of “self-balance, self-regulation, and self-safety”, we fully consider the diverse energy needs of users and strengthen the resource allocation function of smart microgrids for multiple energy types. Improve the intelligent control capabilities and operational compatibility of all elements of the internal source network load storage of smart microgrids, and gradually increase the proportion of spontaneous use of new energy sources. Support smart microgrids to achieve flexible grid-connected and off-grid operation on the premise of equal economic, social and safety responsibilities.

(8) Increase investment in power grids. Implement the country's major strategic plans, carry out power grid investment and construction moderately ahead of schedule, step up efforts to upgrade existing power grids, and guarantee the construction of new power systems. Encourage eligible private capital to participate in grid investment and construction. Optimize the investment and operation assessment management mechanism for power grid enterprises.

4. Build a new power scheduling system

(9) Strengthen the top-level design of power scheduling. Adhere to unified scheduling and hierarchical management. Follow the development rules of a high proportion of new energy sources and power electronics in power systems, accelerate the construction of a new power scheduling system empowered by network source operation coordination, safety and active defense, resource market allocation, and digital intelligence technology, enhance the flexibility and adaptability of power scheduling, and connect efficiently with the operation of the power market.

(10) Improve the power dispatch management system. Construct a scheduling mechanism adapted to various grid types, multiple scheduling objects, and various business format models to promote the collaborative transformation of the power grid regulation model from mainly the main power grid to the main distribution microgrid. Establish a power grid scheduling and operation mechanism adapted to the electricity market. Explore new models of collaborative operation and control, such as the “sand storm”, water scenery, and new power business formats.

(11) Enhance power grid regulation and operation capabilities. Build a power scheduling and control system with comprehensive intelligent sensing, centralized analysis and decision-making, distributed monitoring and control, and efficient cloud-side collaboration. Optimize the scheduling and production organization model to improve the level of real-time control and safety and stability of power grids. Actively promote capacity building for regulation and control of new grid-connected entities such as distributed new energy sources and new energy storage, and achieve collaborative and optimal scheduling of diverse massive resources. Strengthen municipal (local) and county (distribution) personnel deployment forces and support systems.

5. Enhance power grid safety management capabilities

(12) Improve the pattern of collaborative management of power grid safety. Compute power safety responsibilities for all aspects of source grid load storage, and scientifically define the boundaries of responsibility between power grids and various grid-connected entities. Strictly implement the power system safety and stability guidelines and optimize the “three lines of defense”. Strictly monitor and assess network performance such as power frequency modulation and voltage regulation, and strengthen system reactive support capacity building. Strengthen user-side network management and enhance users' awareness of network-related security. Improve the power industry technical supervision system, actively cultivate the power industry technical service market, and improve grid-related technical supervision mechanisms.

(13) Strengthen power grid safety risk identification and control capabilities. Fully draw on the lessons of major international power outages, and establish a power grid safety risk prevention and control mechanism covering all elements of the main distribution microgrid in accordance with the principle of “comprehensive assessment, first reduction, then control, and dynamic management”. Deepen research on the dynamic characteristics and fault evolution mechanisms of novel power systems. Strengthen power grid operation monitoring, early warning, prevention and control, and strengthen power network security defense. Establish and improve the power grid data security management system, and continuously improve the level of power grid data security protection.

(14) Strengthen emergency capacity building for power grids. Establish a power emergency system with “government-enterprise collaboration, internal and external linkage, and multiple guarantees”, strengthen coordination and interaction between primary energy sources such as coal and natural gas and electricity emergencies, and comprehensively enhance power emergency response capabilities. Formulate power grid guarantee power supply plans under extreme conditions, enhance the power supply guarantee capacity of power grids to cope with natural disasters and key regions, key locations, and important users, and optimize and improve power grid blackout measures. Improve emergency plans for large-scale power outages, and carry out regular emergency drills.

6. Promoting New Productivity to Empower Power Grid Development

(15) Strengthen research on key technology in power grids. Relying on major national science and technology projects such as major smart grid projects, we promote the development and application of advanced technology for new grid platforms. Research and break through key technologies for stable analysis and control of novel power systems, and explore collaborative planning and operation scheduling technology for main distribution microgrids. Aiming at application scenarios such as “sand and desert”, water scenery, high altitude, deep sea, etc., it explores key technologies such as high-capacity flexible DC, new energy island transmission, and low-frequency transmission, and pilots 100% of new energy bases for long-distance delivery. Develop and apply high-performance power equipment such as high-capacity circuit breakers and ultra-long-range AC/DC GILs to accelerate engineering verification and promotion and application of grid-based technology.

(16) Promote artificial intelligence technology and digital technology to enable the development of power grids. Promote the integration of digital technology and data elements into power grid business, and promote the in-depth application of artificial intelligence technology in power grid planning and construction, equipment management, regulation and operation, power supply services, and security defense. Combine the development of advanced technologies such as quantum communication, IoT sensing, and 5G-A/6G to expand application scenarios in the field of power grids. Promote the integrated development of network infrastructure and power grids.

(17) Strengthen the leadership of power grid technical standards. Establish a standard system for new power grid platforms, strengthen the standard layout in cutting-edge technology fields, and simultaneously develop key technical standards around major scientific and technological innovations in power grids. Improve technical standards for power system safety and stability and intelligent power grid scheduling, and establish a standard system architecture for grid-building technology, grid-related new business formats, and regulation technology.

7. Promote all-round services for people's livelihood security in power grids

(18) Improve the ability to guarantee urban and rural electricity services. Break down power supply blockages in people's livelihood, actively carry out standardized transformation of power supply facilities in urban villages and old urban neighborhoods, and strengthen power supply guarantees for non-direct power supply communities. Accelerate the completion of shortcomings in rural distribution networks, and achieve steady improvement in power supply reliability and voltage qualification rate. Strengthen the construction and transformation of coal-to-electricity supporting power grids and power supply guarantees to support the continuous and stable operation of clean heating in the northern region. Guide the coordinated layout of distributed power sources with urban and rural power grids, enhance the ability of power grids to accept, allocate and control distributed new energy sources, and strengthen the promotion of distributed new energy sources in improving people's livelihood.

(19) Support the construction of high-quality charging infrastructure systems. Promote the integrated development of vehicles, piles (stations) and networks, scientifically connect the layout of charging facilities with the construction and transformation of distribution networks, and support the orderly construction of high-power charging facilities. Optimize the charging pile reporting and connection process, promote the construction of newly built residential charging facilities to meet standards, and improve pile construction conditions for residents in existing residential areas and rural areas. Promote intelligent charging and discharging facilities in an orderly manner, gradually expand the scope of interactive application of vehicle networks, and improve the ability to interact with power grids in a friendly manner with charging and discharging behavior.

(20) Optimizing the e-commerce environment. Comprehensively build a modern e-commerce environment, further consolidate and upgrade “300” services, and expand the scope of “zero investment” in low-voltage electricity operations to 160 kilowatts and below. Standardize the implementation of the “Three Provinces” service, actively and accurately meet users' telegraph installation needs, and explore the whole process of digitally intelligent telecommunication services. Research and establish a mechanism for acceptance in one place and coordination in multiple places to promote the efficient operation of electricity services across provinces. Strengthen power quality management. Further improve the service quality and efficiency of the 95598 power supply service hotline, and meet the people's demand for electricity use with high quality.

8. Strengthen power grid supervision and management

(21) Optimize power grid planning and management mechanisms. Improve the power grid planning and management system, optimize transmission channels and backbone grids across provinces and regions in an integrated manner, normalize power system design on a rolling basis, and guide local scientific preparation of distribution grid plans. Make a full connection between power planning and territorial spatial planning, etc. Serious planning and implementation, strengthen monitoring and supervision of the implementation of power plans, and carry out project optimization and adjustment in due course.

(22) Strengthen coordination among different power grid operators. The country uniformly plans and lays out cross-grid enterprise operating area power grid projects to enhance power transmission and mutual aid capabilities across business zones. Relevant power grid companies discuss and clarify construction operators and cooperation methods in accordance with the principle of one subject. Continue to promote the strengthening of distribution facilities for local small power grids, and gradually rationalize the integrated development mechanism with large power grids.

(23) Improve transmission and distribution price supervision rules. Adapt to the construction needs of new power systems, explore and implement a two-part or single-capacity electricity price system for projects that mainly transport clean energy or network functions; implement a single capacity electricity price system for new business formats such as consumption of new energy sources nearby. Study the establishment of an authorized revenue settlement system for power grid companies. Improve transmission and distribution cost monitoring methods, and consolidate the pricing foundation.

(24) Strengthen supervision of natural monopoly business in power grids. Improve independent operation and supervision mechanisms in power transmission and distribution, strengthen the implementation of licensing management systems, fair openness, and normalized supervision of grid-connected service quality by power grid enterprises, and deepen penetrating supervision of power dispatching agencies and power trading centers. Supervise the scope of monopoly business and competitive business carried out by power grid companies to prevent natural monopoly links from extending upstream and downstream competitive links. Strengthen the supervision of power grid companies' proxy purchasing business, and promote all industrial and commercial users to enter the electricity market in an orderly manner. Continue to evaluate the effectiveness of power grid investment to improve the efficiency of grid utilization. Give full play to the role of the 12398 energy supervision hotline and strengthen the supervision of power supply services.

(25) Improve the effectiveness of power grid safety supervision. Improve the list of power grid safety supervision rights and responsibilities, strengthen closed-loop supervision of the entire power grid safety risk management and control process, and urge all parties to implement major risk management and control measures and management suggestions for power systems. Promote the application of a new type of supervision mechanism centered on safety and credit, and strictly investigate power grid safety accidents. Strengthen the safety supervision of new grid-connected entities involved in the network.

9. Organizational Guarantee

(26) Compacting the responsibilities of all parties. The National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration are coordinating efforts to promote high-quality power grid development. The National Energy Administration sends agencies to carry out territorial supervision duties and promptly report major issues discovered. Local authorities carry out territorial responsibilities, formulate specific work measures and promote implementation. Power grid enterprises fulfill their main responsibilities and implement various policies and measures in detail. Various grid-connected entities actively participate to jointly ensure the reliable supply of electricity and the safe operation of the power grid.

(27) Strengthen factor guarantees. Establish a central and local coordination mechanism for the construction of key power grid projects to coordinate and promote the guarantee of station site corridor resources. Make full use of existing funding channels to support rural power grid construction in remote areas, poverty-alleviation areas, and old revolutionary areas, as well as the renewal and technological transformation of transmission and distribution equipment. Explore and implement approval models such as parallel approval and notification and commitment systems to accelerate the implementation of power grid projects.

(28) Create an atmosphere for development. Accelerate the revision of laws and regulations relating to power grids. Guide enterprises to actively participate in the construction of new grid platforms, and promptly summarize and promote advanced practices, successful experiences, and typical models for high-quality grid development. Promote the pilot application of new technology and models for new power grid platforms in conjunction with new power system construction pilot projects.

National Development and Reform Commission

National Energy Administration

December 26, 2025

This article was selected from the official website of the “National Development and Reform Commission”, Zhitong Finance Editor: Feng Qiuyi.