[Objective] The 15th Five-Year Plan for New Energy System Construction

issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration

sets the goal of preliminarily establishing a clean

low-carbon

safe

and efficient new energy system by 2030

with key indicators including raising the share of non-fossil energy consumption to 25%

increasing the share of non-fossil electricity generation to 50%

and reducing carbon emissions per unit of electricity generation by over 10%. To gain an in-depth understanding of the plan's top-level design for the transformation of the power and energy industry

this paper presents an interview with Su Lixin

Chairman of Xi'an Thermal Power Research Institute

focusing on the repositioning of coal-fired power

new energy storage

hydrogen and green fuels

and new power systems. [Methods] Based on the plan text and the current state of technological development in the power and energy industry

and following the overarching principle of “safety as the foundation

transition as the priority”

this paper systematically examines the technical pathways for coal-fired power transitioning from a primary electricity supplier to a supporting and regulating power source. It analyzes the engineering progress and application prospects of key technology directions including molten-salt energy storage

supercritical carbon dioxide cycle power generation

co-firing of hydrogen

ammonia

and methanol

and carbon capture

utilization

and storage. [Results] The plan specifies that during the 15 th Five-Year Plan period

new coal-fired power capacity additions will be strictly controlled

while existing units will be retrofitted through wide-load flexible operation(stable combustion at 20% rated load)

life extension assessment

co-firing of zero-carbon and low-carbon fuels(40% ammonia co-firing ratio achieved on a 4 MW combustion test rig)

and carbon capture and utilization(150 000 tons/year demonstration project)

thereby continuing to serve as the bottom-line guarantee for power grid security. Molten-salt energy storage can achieve heat storage for more than 10 hours. The efficiency of supercritical carbon dioxide cycle power generation is 3～5 percentage points higher than that of conventional steam cycles

and the 50 MW coal-fired supercritical carbon dioxide power generation unit has been selected as a national first-set major technical equipment. The bottleneck for scaling up green hydrogen lies in the electricity price

which needs to be reduced to below 0.2 yuan/(kW·h). The plan proposes pathways including direct green-power-to-hydrogen

hydrogen pipeline networks

and international certification systems to address this challenge. [Conclusion] During the 15th Five-Year Plan period

a new energy ecosystem will take shape in which non-fossil energy and coal-fired power co-evolve in a complementary manner

with coal-fired power continuing to safeguard grid security in a cleaner and more flexible way. Scientific and technological innovation should bridge the entire chain from RD

validation

demonstration

to deployment

and promote the multi-energy coupling of electricity

carbon

hydrogen

ammonia

and methanol

so as to provide systematic support for deep decarbonization of the energy system.