National Energy Administration: Energy Investment in 15th Five-Year Plan to Exceed 20 Trillion Yuan

The National Energy Administration recently announced that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), investment in China's key energy projects and new business forms will exceed RMB 20 trillion, significantly higher than the total energy investment during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. This translates to over RMB 100 billion per day on average, and is divided into three dimensions: ensuring safety, promoting transition, and cultivating new opportunities, each with distinct focuses and mutual support.

Investment in energy security projects will increase by more than 10% compared with the 14th Five-Year Plan, with traditional security-oriented energy projects such as coal, oil and gas exploration and development, and supporting power sources remaining key areas. Green and low-carbon transition is the core theme of this investment, with grid investment growth exceeding 30% compared with the 14th Five-Year Plan period. On the power generation side, the share of new energy in power source investment will further rise to nearly 60%, and the wind and solar photovoltaic industries will continue to maintain rapid growth. On the grid side, cross-provincial transmission channels, inter-provincial power mutual aid projects, the main grid network, distribution networks, and smart microgrids will be built to enhance power system resilience and resource allocation capabilities.

Investment in new business forms will exceed RMB 2 trillion, focusing on frontier areas such as green hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, new energy storage, virtual power plants, and computing-power coordination. The growth in demand for artificial intelligence computing power has created a need for stable green electricity. In industrial scenarios, green hydrogen will gradually replace traditional fossil raw materials, and residents can participate in grid regulation through virtual power plant platforms. China's long-term high dependence on imported oil and gas, coupled with international geopolitical conflicts and oil and gas price volatility, requires stabilizing the fossil energy base while vigorously developing new energy to advance the 'dual carbon' goals.

Energy projects involve large individual investments and long industrial chains, covering dozens of sub-sectors including high-end equipment manufacturing, specialty materials, and engineering construction. The massive investment can drive coordinated development of the industrial chain, boost manufacturing upgrades, and absorb employment. Under the 'West-to-East Power Transmission' framework, cross-regional power consumption and market-based trading mechanisms still need improvement. The intermittency of wind and solar power requires supporting energy storage facilities and flexible grids to keep pace. These challenges need to be addressed gradually as projects advance.