On October 14, the 57th World Standards Day was held as scheduled. Focusing on the seventh United Nations Sustainable Development Goal, this year’s World Standards Day theme was “Affordable Clean Energy,” calling for the empowerment of global green transition through standardization and promoting the widespread adoption of reliable, accessible, and sustainable modern energy.
Standards serve as crucial support for economic development and social progress, acting as a “universal language” that unifies technical terminology and as a “navigation instrument” that guides technological innovation.
Energy is the foundational support for economic and social development, with electricity at the center of the energy transition. In recent years, China’s new energy installation proportion has continued to rise, bringing profound changes to power source structures and grid forms. Issues such as declining system rotational inertia and wide-band oscillations have emerged in some new energy-rich regions, increasing pressure on the safe and stable operation of “high-doubling” power systems.
This August, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration released the “15th Five-Year Plan for New Power System Construction,” clearly stating that by 2030, a new power system would be initially built, with the non-fossil energy power generation proportion reaching 50%, and national installation scale increasing from 3.89 billion kilowatts to 5.4 billion kilowatts—the grander the goals, the more a unified, scientific, and advanced standard system is needed for support.
“Standards lay the foundation for the safe and orderly development of new power systems,” stated Liu Yongdong, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Electricity Council (CEC).
On one hand, source-grid-load-storage links feature diverse technical routes and equipment forms; only through standards that unify technical language, interface requirements, and performance boundaries can the interoperability and coordinated interaction of massive distributed resources be achieved, safeguarding the bottom line of large grid safe operation. On the other hand, standards serve as an important bridge for scientific and technological achievement transformation, solidifying technical requirements repeatedly verified in engineering practice into standard provisions, thereby accelerating the transition of new technologies, new equipment, and new business models from demonstration to large-scale application.
“Standards are also the ‘measuring rod’ for power products to participate in global green trade competition,” Liu Yongdong pointed out, noting that unified localized carbon footprint quantification methods directly affect whether Chinese export enterprises can “calculate clearly, report reliably, and gain recognition” in international carbon accounting rules.
Over the years, the CEC has persisted in the unification of standard systems and standardization technical organizations, having formed a work pattern where national standards, industry standards, and CEC group standards coordinate and support each other in a tiered supply structure, continuously improving China’s power standardization work.
To empower industry development through standard construction, over the past year, the CEC successively approved and released 247 CEC standards via announcements No. 1 and No. 4 of 2026, covering all power professional fields; meanwhile, a batch of 219 power national and industry standards managed by the CEC were successively approved for release or implemented.
Looking at the “source,” a clean and low-carbon power source standard system is rapidly being constructed. China’s first carbon footprint quantification national standards for power products went from nonexistence to existence, distributed power grid-connection standards continue to upgrade, safety production standardization for power generation enterprises now has a unified benchmark, hydropower plant equipment intelligent inspection standards have been issued, and thermal power flexibility and clean efficiency levels have improved simultaneously.
Looking at the “grid,” strong smart grid standards have undergone iterative upgrading. Grid-forming technology standards are accelerating layout, DC transmission and ultra-high-voltage equipment standards continue to improve, and grid safe operation and intelligence levels rise together.
Looking at the “load,” demand-side resources and power usage service standards continue to improve. Virtual power plant standard systems are rapidly taking shape, charging and vehicle-grid interaction standards are accelerating supply, and comprehensive energy and zero-carbon park standards assist terminal energy transition.
Looking at “storage,” multi-type energy storage standard systems are rapidly forming. Pumped storage standard systems are accelerating formation, electrochemical energy storage standards extend across the full lifecycle, and multi-type energy storage standards accelerate fill-in gaps.
“In July this year, a series of seven national standards titled ‘Greenhouse Gases – Product Carbon Footprint Quantification Methods and Requirements,’ managed and led by the CEC, were officially approved for release, covering solar thermal, photovoltaic, nuclear, coal-fired, hydropower, wind, and gas power generation. This not only provides solid support for the nation’s routine carbon footprint factor calculation for power but also serves as an important tool for enterprises to respond to international green trade rules such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism,” noted Zhang Jingjie, Deputy Director of the CEC Planning and Development Department.
Additionally, in power market and carbon data management, the CEC has also promoted the rapid improvement of relevant standards. Currently, the power spot market operation standard system has been initially established, with new breakthroughs in green power trading and carbon data management standards. Among them, three standards including “Green Electricity Consumption Accounting Methods” have filled industry standard gaps in the domestic green electricity consumption accounting and green certificate trading system fields, providing guidance for the construction of a national unified green certificate market and the standardized full-process operation of green electricity consumption.
From source-grid-load-storage links and market mechanisms, standards in emerging areas such as carbon footprint quantification, grid-forming technologies, virtual power plants, pumped storage, multi-type energy storage, power markets, and green electricity consumption are being rapidly introduced. The tiered connection of national, industry, and group standards has significantly improved the standard system’s response speed to new technologies and new business models.