Optimal Strategy for Low-Carbon Development of Power Industry in Northeast China Considering the ‘Dual Carbon’ Goal

With China’s carbon peak and target proposed and the power system as an important source of carbon emissions, its carbon reduction issues are of great concern. However, the mismatch between power demand, resources, and generation facilities in different regions of China creates enormous carbon reduction pressures, especially in the region covered by China’s Northeast Power Grid (NE Grid). Therefore, in this study, a two-stage power optimization model considering Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) was established to optimize the national power generation and transmission in China from 2020 to 2060 first and then to optimize the regional road map of energy structure adjustment for China’s NE grid and its CO2 storage strategy. The first stage optimization results show that the national power interaction in China can make full use of the energy resource advantages of the NE grid, especially Jilin and Mengdong, delivering clean electricity to the North China grid as it reaches its “dual carbon” goal. Additionally, the second-stage optimization results show that the NE grid can make good use of CCUS for its thermal power transition. Annual CO2 storage will peak at 204 Mt in 2050 as thermal power withdraws in the NE grid region, which provides a reference for other regions to realize carbon neutrality of their power system by using CCUS.