Development and contribution of natural gas industry under China's carbon neutrality goal

3.2.3 Downstream consumption

China's inland natural gas resources are mainly concentrated in the northwest, southwest and other central and western regions. With the continuous improvement of pipeline construction, natural gas will be able to flexibly flow to cover major energy consumption areas in China. Therefore, gas-fired power generation can be deployed in areas with relatively concentrated renewable energy distribution and poor grid flexibility. We will promote the integrated development of gas power generation with wind, solar, biomass and other new energy power generation. For the three northern areas of inland wind power optoelectronics, southwest hydropower and other areas to provide sufficient support for gas and electricity peak regulation. In addition, through heat storage, electrolytic water hydrogen production and other ways, to deal with the uncertainty of renewable energy, reduce the abandonment of wind and light, improve the utilization efficiency of renewable energy. In addition, distributed gas-fired power stations can rely on communication technologies such as 5G networks, Internet of things and monitoring networks, combined with control technologies such as new power grids, big data and artificial intelligence, to realize multi-energy complementaries between natural gas and renewable new energy sources such as water, light, wind, biology and geothermal, and provide a variety of energy services such as "cold, heat, electricity and gas". Vigorously develop energy intelligent control technology, use the information exchange and monitoring functions of the digital intelligence energy network, achieve a balance between energy supply and consumption, achieve on-demand supply, and improve comprehensive energy utilization efficiency.

4. Conclusion

1) The "dual carbon" goal will have a profound impact on China's energy consumption structure, but unlike coal and oil, natural gas still has a large development potential and space due to its relative cleanliness and convenience, and is an important part of the energy system.

2) According to the multi-scenario analysis, by 2030, under the low-speed scenario and high-speed scenario (the same baseline scenario), China's total primary energy consumption will be 55.14×108 t and 60.78×108 t respectively, and the natural gas consumption will be about 5 449×108 m3 and 6 006×108 m3 respectively. In 2060, under low-speed, baseline and high-speed scenarios, the total primary energy consumption is 53.43×108, 62.23×108 and 68.20×108 t, and the natural gas consumption is about 5 280×108, 6 150×108 and 6 740×108 m3, respectively. Compared with the current level of 3 200×108 m3, the consumption of natural gas in the carbon neutral period has nearly doubled the room for growth.

3) It is suggested that while expanding the production of conventional natural gas on the supply side, the exploration and development of unconventional natural gas such as shale gas and coal-bed methane should be intensified. At the same time, the high-quality development of natural gas hydrate, artificial natural gas and bio-natural gas should be promoted, and the trade of imported LNG and pipeline gas should be expanded to enhance China's natural gas guarantee capacity and technical reserves; Gas power generation will be the main use of natural gas in the future, as a regulating power supply to ensure the stability and reliability of the new power system; In the industrial field, we will increase the substitution of gas for coal, increase the proportion of natural gas used in industrial production, and promote clean industrial energy.

4) Carbon neutral stage natural gas is a strong complement to renewable energy, the two should complement each other, synergistic development. It is suggested to invest more power and electric drive equipment in the natural gas industry, vigorously develop carbon dioxide, and strengthen negative emission technologies such as shale gas extraction and CCUS; Promote the construction of infrastructure such as natural gas pipeline networks and gas storage facilities, especially emergency peaking capacity, and realize the deep integration of technologies such as electricity to gas, hydrogen storage and carbon sequestration; Combined with the new power grid, the management and control mode is transformed by digital and intelligent technology to realize the intelligent storage, transportation and consumption of natural gas.