On December 8, a delegation of eight US experts, participating in the "China-US Green Power Development Dialogue" event, visited the Department of Electrical Engineering and Applied Electronics (EEA) at Tsinghua University and attended a seminar on power market directions. The visiting US experts included Yury Dvorkin, Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins University; Burçin Ünel, Executive Director of the New York University School of Law; Chiara Lo Prete, Associate Professor at Pennsylvania State University; Johanna Mathieu, Associate Professor at the University of Michigan; Benjamin Leibowicz, Associate Professor at the University of Texas; Jesse Jenkins, Assistant Professor at Princeton University; Leila Safavi, Postdoctoral Fellow at New York University School of Law; and Gabe Mantegna, PhD student at Princeton University. Tsinghua University participants included Zheng Zedong, Party Secretary of EEA, Guo Hongye, Assistant Researcher, and Xu Qingyu, Assistant Researcher at the Energy Internet Innovation Institute, among others. Representatives from the China Energy Research Society also attended. The seminar was hosted by Guo Hongye.

Introduction to EEA by Zheng Zedong

Zheng Zedong began by welcoming the US experts and introduced EEA’s history, organizational structure (including its “one department, two institutes”), and the research directions of various research teams. He also discussed the Department’s contributions and experiences in Tsinghua University’s online teaching and its international conferences and collaborations. Zheng expressed a warm invitation for further cooperation between EEA and US power market experts. He noted that, in response to future challenges, EEA will actively promote the development of the discipline, improve talent training quality, and make significant contributions to the energy revolution strategy.

Introduction to China’s Power System by Xu Qingyu

Xu Qingyu introduced the basic structure of China’s power system, including its physical composition, recent market reforms, and policies aimed at decarbonization. He highlighted the challenges China faces in building its power market, particularly the simultaneous pursuit of reforms and the growing electricity demand, as well as the rapid expansion of renewable energy and energy storage. He further discussed ongoing challenges faced by mature power markets, such as negative pricing, energy storage charging state management, capacity market design, and the compatibility of market rules with hydropower. Xu’s introduction provided a foundation for the dialogue and helped the US experts better understand the current status of China’s power system, especially the power market.

Guo Hongye introduced his team’s progress on power market

Guo Hongye introduced the EILAB team in EEA and its research progress on power markets. He explained that their research addresses two main issues: at the macro market level, focusing on designing power market mechanisms that accommodate a high proportion of new energy sources; and at the micro-level, analyzing the trading behaviors of various market participants, including generation, load, and storage, to guide mechanism design. The team’s research covers multi-level markets, diversified trading products, and various market participants. Based on these outcomes, the team has provided substantial theoretical and practical support for China’s power market mechanism design, contributing to the issuance of relevant documents and the construction of actual power markets in multiple regions.

Seminar and In-depth Discussions

During the subsequent seminar, US experts and Tsinghua faculty and students engaged in in-depth discussions on the progress of China’s power market construction, including specific models for inter-provincial spot markets, the operational status of provincial-level electricity spot markets, and the involvement of new entities such as energy storage and virtual power plants in domestic markets. The US experts thanked EEA for the informative presentations, noting that the insights laid a solid foundation for further discussions on policy innovations for the clean energy transition, decarbonization pathways, and power market designs for high-renewable energy integration during the "China-US Green Power Development Dialogue."

Group Photo with US Experts and EEA Representatives

The event concluded with a group photo of the EEA faculty and students with the visiting US experts, marking the successful completion of the activity.

The "China-US Green Power Development Dialogue" took place in Beijing from December 9 to 10, 2024, bringing together experts from both countries to discuss academic advancements in green power development and to exchange ideas on green power market planning and mechanism design. The event was jointly hosted by the China Energy Research Society, the Energy Internet Innovation Institute at Tsinghua University, and the Energy Foundation, and it has been selected as a key content of the China-US Science and Technology Personnel Exchange in 2024 by the China Association for Science and Technology, with support from the China Energy News. For more information, please click on "China-US Green Power Dialogue: Exploring New Opportunities for Energy Cooperation."