General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that the rice bowl of energy must be held firmly in our own hands. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China put forward new requirements for the high-quality development of energy. As the in-depth advancement of energy green transition, the key to power supply guarantee has gradually shifted from the control capacity of coal, oil and other resources to the R&D and supply capacity of power equipment. The resource attribute of the power industry is constantly weakening, while the equipment attribute is becoming increasingly prominent. Recently, the National Energy Administration and other departments jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the High-Quality Development of Energy Equipment" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guiding Opinions"). Against the backdrop of judging this trend, it is the latest measure to implement the new energy security strategy of "four revolutions and one cooperation" and the decisions and deployments of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee. Focusing on addressing shortcomings, extending advantages, and forging new growth drivers, the "Guiding Opinions" clarify the future direction, goals and paths, providing a guide for the high-quality development of the industry.

In the past, China's power equipment has gone through an overtaking journey from "following" to "keeping pace" and achieving "leading" in many fields. Adhering to the development path of combining independent innovation with introduction, digestion, absorption and re-innovation, the power equipment industry has continuously deepened the research on key core technologies. While addressing the shortcomings of the industrial chain, it has strengthened the layout of original and leading technological R&D. The core competitiveness of equipment has been significantly enhanced, reaching the world's leading level in many fields. The Shandong Yuncheng 630℃ ultra-supercritical double reheat coal-fired power demonstration project with a capacity of 1 million kilowatts has achieved the world's optimal designed coal consumption, with power generation efficiency exceeding 50%. The 1,000-megawatt hydropower unit of the Baihetan Hydropower Station has broken the world record for single-unit capacity of hydropower units, leading the global hydropower into the "era of million-kilowatt single units". The rated water heads of the units at the Tiantai and Changlongshan pumped storage power stations rank first and second in the world, with the highest technical difficulty in the industry. The third-generation pressurized water reactors such as "Hualong One" and "Guohe One" have formed a technological system with independent brands. With the rapid leap in technical level, China has established the world's most comprehensive, largest-scale, most diverse and internationally advanced power equipment industry system covering the entire chain of "power generation - energy storage - power transmission and distribution". It not only provides key support for domestic energy transition, but also occupies an important position in the global market, becoming an important force driving the green and low-carbon development of world energy.

At present, the high-quality development of China's power equipment still faces three major challenges. Firstly, there is still a gap between the technical level of high-end complete sets of equipment and the needs of green and low-carbon energy transition, which makes it difficult to fully meet the requirements of building a new power system. Secondly, some links in the industrial chain are not yet fully independent and controllable, and some core components and materials rely on imports. Thirdly, the digital and intelligent level of the industry is not high. Restricted by bottlenecks such as insufficient intelligent perception technology and limited data analysis capabilities, the intelligent operation and maintenance and accurate prediction capabilities of power equipment still need to be strengthened. These challenges have become key factors restricting the high-quality development of power equipment.

The "Guiding Opinions" have drawn a scientific development blueprint for China's power equipment. Facing the construction of a new power system, the "Guiding Opinions" systematically plan the innovation tasks for equipment development, and clarify the innovation directions such as the improvement of the technical level of complete power equipment, the R&D of key components and materials, and the development of digital intelligence, greenization and high-endization. It not only focuses on solving the current problem of improving the independent and controllable level of the industrial chain, but also makes forward-looking arrangements for future technological commanding heights, providing a systematic solution for the leapfrog development of power equipment. Specifically, the core lies in the "four focuses".

China's power structure is undergoing a historic transformation from being dominated by traditional coal power to being dominated by new energy. In 2024, wind power and photovoltaic power in China achieved leapfrog development, with a total installed capacity of 1.41 billion kilowatts and annual power generation of renewable energy reaching about 3 trillion kilowatt-hours, effectively promoting the transformation of the energy consumption structure. At the same time, the construction of a new power system has put forward higher requirements for the quality and efficiency of power equipment. Coal-fired power units need rapid frequency modulation and deep peak regulation, and the requirements for grid-connected performance and wide-load energy efficiency have been further improved. The independent development of gas turbines and the establishment of a serialized equipment system still have a long way to go. The installation environment of new energy equipment is becoming more complex, and the orientation of high performance, high reliability and low cost is increasingly prominent. While continuously improving reliability and stability, nuclear energy equipment has an increasing demand for new materials and equipment with long-term service capabilities. Targeting energy conversion equipment, the "Guiding Opinions" put forward clear actions for improving the quality and efficiency of fossil energy power generation, renewable energy power generation and nuclear energy equipment, playing a crucial role in promoting the high-end development of power generation equipment, extending advantages and addressing shortcomings.

With the accelerated construction of a new power system, energy storage, as a core element to solve the volatility of new energy, ensure the safe and stable operation of the power grid, and reduce the cost of the power system, has an urgent equipment demand and unprecedented development opportunities. At present, energy storage technology shows a diversified development trend. Pumped storage dominates but is limited by geographical conditions and construction cycles. Electrochemical energy storage is developing rapidly but faces safety challenges. Hydrogen energy storage has great potential but its technical and economic feasibility needs to be broken through. Based on building a safe, efficient and multi-energy complementary energy storage system, the "Guiding Opinions" propose tasks such as improving the performance of key equipment such as energy storage batteries, pumped storage and heat storage, and developing equipment for water electrolysis hydrogen production, large-scale hydrogen storage and transportation, and large-scale hydrogen application. It promotes the integrated, large-scale and multi-scenario application of energy storage equipment. In addition to meeting the practical needs of building a new power system, it is also a powerful starting point for implementing the "dual carbon" goals.

The digital and intelligent development of energy is an important engine driving energy governance, reform and transformation. While spawning new quality productive forces, it accelerates the advancement of industrial foundation and the modernization of the industrial chain. The digital and intelligent upgrade of equipment is the foundation and important starting point for the digital and intelligent development of energy. Innovative technologies such as digital twins, intelligent diagnosis and predictive maintenance of power generation equipment based on the industrial Internet are profoundly changing the operation and maintenance mode and value chain form of the power industry. Significant results have been achieved at this stage, but challenges such as insufficient intelligent perception accuracy of key equipment and the need to improve the independent and controllable level of industrial control systems still exist. Focusing on the needs of equipment digital and intelligent transformation, the "Guiding Opinions" clarify the strengthening of intelligent regulation of equipment and the intelligent application of terminal equipment. By building a closed-loop system of "perception - planning - decision-making - execution", it promotes the digital and intelligent upgrade of equipment covering the entire process, which is of great significance for the energy industry to forge new growth drivers and achieve new intelligent development.

Green development is a necessary condition for sustainable development and an important embodiment of people's pursuit of a better life, as well as an important part of implementing the new development concept. The green development of power equipment is an important embodiment of the advanced nature of equipment technology and a powerful weapon to remain invincible in market competition. At present, China's power equipment industry is facing challenges in green development. With the rapid expansion of new energy installed capacity, the pressure of handling new solid wastes such as decommissioned photovoltaic modules and wind power equipment is increasing day by day. Centering on the whole-life cycle green development, the "Guiding Opinions" aim to address the problems such as the resource security of raw materials and waste disposal of power equipment by breaking through green circular materials and repair and life extension technologies, building a standard system for green design, green manufacturing and recycling, and realizing a whole-life cycle circular management system from raw material production to terminal products and back to raw material production. It further consolidates the foundation for the green development of the energy industry.

The issuance of the "Guiding Opinions" has drawn a clear roadmap for the high-quality development of the power equipment industry. To promote its implementation, the equipment industry needs to build a more sound innovative development ecosystem. We should strengthen the dominant position of enterprises in innovation, and promote enterprises to effectively assume the full-chain innovation responsibilities of being the "proposer" of innovation needs, the "problem solver" of technological research, and the "evaluator" of achievement transformation. At the same time, it is necessary to establish and improve the industry self-discipline mechanism, resolutely prevent homogeneous "involution" competition and low-price vicious competition, and effectively standardize the order of industry development. Facing the global wave of energy transition and the historical mission of the "dual carbon" goals, enterprises need to take technological innovation as the core and green intelligence as the wings, realize the leap from "manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing" with the strong support of policies, and provide solid support for building a new energy system and achieving the "dual carbon" goals.