January 11th, 2024
Via Caixin Global, a report on China’s push for ‘vehicle-grid interaction’
The central government has announced a plan to build a two-way charging system between electric vehicles (EVs) and the country’s power grids.
According to the plan, EV owners can charge their vehicles during off-peak hours to enjoy lower electricity prices. During peak hours, they can send the spare power in their EV batteries back to the grid through charging pillars and get paid for the returned electricity at higher prices.
Four state-level agencies, including the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the National Energy Administration (NEA), released details of the plan on Jan. 4.
The document required a “vehicle-grid interaction” system to be “initially established” by 2025, which means it will support pilot cities and projects. It also said that the system should be “basically established” by 2030 to enable the large-scale application of the technology by that time.
The NEA is expected to set up at least five demonstration cities and at least 50 demonstration projects by the end of 2025 in major economic zones, such as the Yangtze River Delta Region.
Why it matters: The move is expected to help China’s power grids meet the growing demand for EV charging by turning those vehicles into “mobile battery packs” to reverse-charge the grids, CCTV reported. EV owners can also save money by taking advantage of the price gaps between peak and off-peak electricity, the broadcaster said.
Last August, in an experiment in the eastern city of Wuxi, 50 EVs reverse-charged the grids simultaneously for 30 minutes, returning a total of 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity — enough to support 133 households for a day, according to the Wuxi branch of the State Grid.
'Black Swans' are highly improbable events that come as a surprise, have major disruptive effects, and that are often rationalized after the fact as if they had been predictable to begin with. In our rapidly warming world, such events are occurring ever more frequently and include wildfires, floods, extreme heat, and drought.
'Green Shoots' is a term used to describe signs of economic recovery or positive data during a downturn. It references a period of growth and recovery, when plants start to show signs of health and life, and, therefore, has been employed as a metaphor for a recovering economy.
It is my hope that Black Swans / Green Shoots will help readers understand both climate-activated risk and opportunity so that you may invest in, advise, or lead organizations in the context of increasing pressures of global urbanization, resource scarcity, and perils relating to climate change. I believe that the tools of business and finance can help individuals, businesses, and global society make informed choices about who and what to protect, and I hope that this blog provides some insight into the policy and private sector tools used to assess investments in resilient reinforcement, response, or recovery.