How can regional power coordination drive a low-carbon transition in the power sector? --Evidence from China

Abstract

The power sector is the largest single sector in China in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, and low-carbon transformation of power is a crucial part of realizing the dual-carbon goal. The current research on the technical path of power transition mainly seeks technically and economically feasible transition solutions to minimize the transition cost of the power sector under carbon constraints. Still, there are relatively few studies from the perspective of regional coordination. For this reason, this paper constructs a fixed-effects panel model and a moderating-effects test model based on the panel data of 30 provinces and cities in China from 2012 to 2021. It analyzes the role of regional coordination in promoting the regional low-carbon transformation of electric power. The findings include: (1) there is a significant positive relationship between cross-provincial power transmission and electric power green total factor productivity, and the larger the scale of cross-provincial power transmission, the faster the speed of regional electric power low-carbon transition; (2) the heterogeneity analysis shows that cross-provincial power transmission promotes electric power green total factor productivity more significantly in regions with a larger scale of the electric power supply side and the electric power industry; (3) the moderating effect mechanism test The results show that cross-provincial power transmission plays a positive moderating role between the proportion of installed renewable energy and electric power green total factor productivity, and promotes the development of the structure of installed power in the direction of decarbonization. At the same time, cross-provincial power transmission plays a reverse regulating role between the total amount of installed power and green total factor productivity of power and accelerates the low-carbon transformation of regional power by promoting the rational allocation of resources, reducing the scale of regional installed power, and improving the efficiency of power capital investment.