China to Include Smart Electricity Grid in Five-Year Plan, Xinhua Reports

By Jessica Ng - Jul 2, 2010

July 2 (Bloomberg New Energy Finance) -- China is drafting a five-year energy plan through 2015 to include smart grid technology as one of the key industries for research and development, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The government will provide funding to build several research centers this year to develop transmission technology to connect wind and solar power to the grid, said Li Ye, a government official at the National Energy Administration.

State Grid Corp. of China, the nation’s largest grid operator, released standards to regulate the smart grid technology and related equipment production on June 29, covering areas such as power generation, intelligent transmission, substations, distribution, utilization and dispatch for the implementation of its smart grid project.

The rules, the nation’s first comprehensive standards for smart grid projects, will be implemented in the company’s development in China and provide a reference for standards across the country, State Grid said in a statement.

State Grid will invest 250 billion yuan ($37 billion) this year to build a smart grid network in China, Xinhua reported, citing Wang Yimin, the company’s head of smart grid department. The company aims to install 75 electric car-charging stations and 6,209 recharging towers across 27 cities this year, according to previous reports.

China aims to cooperate with the U.S. to speed up the development of the smart grid and set out international standards for grid construction, Li said.