PV-Storage Integration Emerges as Key to China’s New Power System Transition
Amid the construction of a new power system, promoting the clean and low-carbon transformation of the energy structure through the in-depth integration of source, grid, load and storage has become a key industry focus. At the recently held 2026 New Energy Integration and Development Seminar, participants noted that the in-depth integration of photovoltaic (PV) and energy storage is a crucial breakthrough for new energy integration, which can optimize PV power output characteristics, improve matching with load curves, enhance the green content and stability of the power system, and support the building of a new power system.
Gui Xiaoyang, Deputy Director of the Department of New Energy and Renewable Energy under the National Energy Administration, stated that it is necessary to expand PV-storage integration scenarios. Particularly in large-scale wind and PV bases, the planned construction of integrated PV-storage systems should be promoted to build system-friendly PV power stations and improve the reliable replacement level of new energy. In the industrial energy consumption field, the PV-storage integrated energy supply model should be advanced to promote the mutual adaptation of power generation characteristics and load curves. Combined with new formats such as PV-storage direct and flexible buildings, smart microgrids and virtual power plants, the coordinated aggregation and precise regulation of distributed PV and energy storage can be realized.
He added that efforts should be made to improve the efficiency, service life and safety performance of PV-storage products and systems, focus on key topics such as high precision, power prediction, intelligent regulation and grid-forming technology, and enhance the response and active support capabilities of PV-storage systems to the power system. In addition, the in-depth coordination and integrated dispatching of new energy and supporting energy storage should be further promoted, the market participation mechanism for PV-storage integration projects improved, and the energy supply and regulation value of energy storage systems brought into play to enhance the economy of PV-storage integration.
Shi Yubo, Chairman of the China Energy Research Society, pointed out that the large-scale grid connection of high-proportion new energy has put forward new and higher requirements for the power system’s regulation and response capabilities, cross-regional transmission and consumption capabilities, and source-grid-load-storage coordination capabilities, which is also a proposition that must achieve systematic breakthroughs during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period. As a key path for the efficient development and utilization of new energy, PV-storage integration has entered a new stage of system integration and large-scale promotion after years of technological exploration and demonstration application accumulation, becoming the preferred choice for building a new power system and promoting the high-quality development of new energy.
Previously, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration jointly issued the Notice on Improving the Generation-Side Capacity Tariff Mechanism, which clearly established a capacity tariff mechanism for grid-side independent new energy storage.
