Direct connection to green electricity gradually becomes a new engine for the transformation of high-energy-consuming industries

The policy of direct green electricity connection will be one year old soon. Are there solutions to the volatility and indirectness issues of green electricity?

▲Picture of Ordos Zero Carbon Industrial Park

As an important means to improve renewable energy consumption and build a new power system, the policies related to direct green electricity connection have received widespread industry attention since their introduction last year. However, the core challenges restricting the industry’s large-scale development remain: the characteristics of volatility and intermittency of green electricity, along with supporting project implementation issues.

The policy of direct green electricity connection will be one year old soon. Are there solutions to the volatility and indirectness issues of green electricity?

Recently, Envision Group successfully completed the first phase of a pilot project for green alloy in Baotou, Inner Mongolia. Relying on AI-powered power systems, this project can achieve 100% direct green electricity connection, providing new possibilities for high-energy-consuming industries to solve green electricity consumption difficulties and promote green, low-carbon transformation.

Strong momentum across regions

According to the “Notice on Matters Related to the Orderly Promotion of Green Electricity Direct Connection Development” jointly issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration in May 2025, green electricity direct connection refers to the mode where renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and biomass power do not connect directly to the public grid but supply green electricity to a single user via direct lines, with physical source tracing capabilities. It is divided into grid-connected and off-grid types based on whether it connects to the public grid. The relevant documents also specify that for direct supply of green power to multiple users via direct lines, specific measures will be separately prescribed by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration.

Since then, the direct connection mode of green electricity has officially become an important practical path in China to meet corporate green energy needs and enhance local renewable energy consumption.

In December 2015, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the National Energy Administration jointly announced the “List of National Zero-Carbon Parks (First Batch),” requiring regional development and reform commissions, industry and information technology departments, and energy bureaus to actively support the development of national zero-carbon parks, providing necessary support in funding, resource guarantees, technical support, and financial services. They are to promote the implementation of green electricity direct connection, local renewable energy access to incremental distribution networks, and other green power supply modes within these parks, encouraging and supporting technological, policy, and business model innovations tailored to local conditions.

This marked the first time that national policies linked green electricity direct connection with “parks”—multi-user scenarios—clarifying the goal of implementing “green electricity direct connection” modes within parks. Industry insiders generally believe this is a move by the state to accelerate the refinement of supporting rules for the “one-to-many” and “many-to-many” green electricity direct connection models through zero-carbon park scenarios.

Since the release of related policies, provinces such as Hebei, Qinghai, Yunnan, and Shandong have accelerated the development of green electricity direct connection policies and detailed rules, focusing on high-energy-consuming industries like electrolytic aluminum and steel, empowering traditional industries with green electricity for low-carbon transformation. Recently, Hebei Province’s Development and Reform Commission announced the first batch of green electricity direct connection projects for 2026, with a total of 8 projects and 1,436.44 MW. The momentum for advancing green electricity direct connection in China is strong, with a gradually clearer development path, entering a new stage of rapid growth overall.

AI-powered new power systems support

Ferrous alloy production is a typical high-energy-consuming industry with a high dependence on electricity resources. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, green transformation has become the main theme of industry development. Against this background, accurately understanding the demand of the high-end alloy market has become a core issue all ferrous alloy companies must face.

Ulanqab boasts abundant wind and solar resources, a favorable geographic location, and excellent mineral resources. One-third of China’s ferrous alloy capacity is located here, forming an alloy industry cluster. Today, direct green electricity connection is becoming a new engine for local industry’s green transformation.

“As someone working in the ferrous alloy industry, I never imagined a few years ago that we could use green electricity. Looking back now, that decision was undoubtedly correct,” said Song Tingchun, Chairman of Xinchuang Industrial. He added that the country is vigorously promoting the development of a low-carbon energy economy, with policy support for project implementation; calculations show that using green electricity can significantly reduce electricity costs, greatly enhancing cost advantages among existing ferrous alloy companies and securing more market competitiveness in the future.

It is worth noting that the green electricity direct connection mode faces challenges such as fluctuations in wind and solar output and the difficulty of real-time supply-demand matching, which also impose higher requirements on system regulation and safe, stable operation.

Zhang Yuan, Vice President of Envision Energy, stated: “The first phase of our 320k-ton green hydrogen ammonia project in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, has already been put into operation, relying on AI power systems to truly achieve 100% green electricity direct connection.”

It is reported that the Chifeng Zero Carbon Hydrogen Energy Industrial Park’s unique AI large model training scenario provides strong support for AI power system modeling. On the source side, AI wind turbines and AI energy storage provide low-cost, clean power support; on the grid side, new power systems and integrated regulation platforms “tame” the fluctuations of green electricity into stable industrial-grade power; on the load side, Envision’s AI power system, through high-precision power forecasting and intelligent dispatching, truly realizes “source following load, load following source, and source-load interaction.” Currently, based on the “Envision Tianxu” energy large model and the “Envision Tianji” meteorological large model, Envision is collaborating with many alloy companies in Ulanqab to continuously explore new models of source-grid-load-storage and green electricity direct connection, promoting industry green upgrading and transformation.

“One-to-many” may be the future trend

Industry insiders point out that the core issue facing high-quality development of renewable energy is no longer supply-side problems but rather consumption, which is also the primary challenge for high-quality development. As an important carrier of industry development and economic operation, parks have rigid energy supply demands. Currently, combining green electricity direct connection with zero-carbon park construction has become an important exploration for implementing green electricity direct connection.

“Potential issues with green electricity direct connection mainly lie in the mismatch between load-side and power source-side construction, especially the operational cycle mismatch, facing the problem of ‘who to supply after construction.’ In the long run, exploring the ‘one-to-many’ model of green electricity direct connection is the key to resolving supply-demand mismatches, improving green electricity consumption stability, and promoting sustainable development,” said an industry expert who wished to remain anonymous. He emphasized that the main battlefield for developing the “one-to-many” model must be within parks.

At the policy level, several provinces have explicitly encouraged pilot projects of green electricity direct connection within zero-carbon parks. Practically, Liaoning Shenyang Sino-German High-end Equipment Manufacturing Industrial Park is exploring an “one-to-many” green electricity direct connection model, breaking the traditional one-to-one direct supply barrier to a single user, by building dedicated transmission lines to supply green power from nearby wind projects to multiple enterprises, enabling local development and consumption of renewable energy, significantly reducing enterprise energy costs and total carbon emissions.

Sun Jie, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer of Envision, told China Energy News: “Based on the green electricity direct connection policies of various provinces and the ‘expanding multi-user green electricity direct connection’ proposed at this year’s Two Sessions, we believe that green electricity direct connection projects will open broader development space at the park level.”

"He added: ‘Currently, the green electricity direct connection mode is still under continuous exploration, including forms like one-to-one and one-to-many. The ultimate goal of all these explorations is to promote the green transformation of traditional high-energy-consuming industries through green energy, enhancing industry green competitiveness. To fully realize the value of green electricity direct connection through new power systems, relying solely on manual judgment and dispatching is far from enough. The future new power system will inevitably combine software and hardware, driven by AI, moving toward lower costs, greener, smarter, and more reliable development,’” Sun Jie said.

Text | Reporter Lin Shuijing

Produced by | China Energy News (cnenergy)

Editor | Zhao Fangting