To effectively communicate the power sector's contributions to sustainable development and promote exemplary practices of power companies, the China Electricity Council (CEC), in collaboration with China Sustainability Tribune, launched the 2025 "Golden Key · Power Sector Special" campaign, calling for SDG solutions from electricity companies.

The 2025 "Golden Key · Power Sector Special" features four tracks: Rural Vitalization, Climate Action, Global Responsibility, and Innovative Transformation. Following preliminary evaluations, 80 solutions have been included into the roadshow round of the campaign. To further amplify the impact of these outstanding initiatives and guide all sectors of society in understanding, recognizing, and supporting the power sector, we here present the shortlisted entries to promote and highlight the exemplary practices.

Climate Action

Innovative actions in responding to climate change, serving the 30·60 decarbonization goal, and promoting the clean and low-carbon energy transition

B01: “Green Equation” Campus Energy Efficiency Pilot (Tangshan Power Supply Company of State Grid Jibei Electric Power Company Limited)

In response to the complex energy consumption structure and relatively low energy efficiency in university campuses, the company partnered with Tangshan College to build a smart campus energy management platform integrating data monitoring and intelligent control. The system implements green retrofits in key areas like classrooms and dormitories, creating a replicable model for campus energy conservation and emission reduction.

B02: “Green Energy Integrator” Drives Distributed PV Upgrades (State Grid Hunan Electric Power Company Limited)

The company developed China’s first CPA-certified multi-functional device for distributed PV system, integrating measurement, control, and communication. It reduces retrofit costs by 53% and improves efficiency by 80%, projected to enable 11 TWh of annual PV absorption—cutting 420k tons of coal and 1.08M tons of carbon.

B03: Biomass Decarbonization for Low-carbon Transition of Coal-fired Power Generation (Huanggang Dabieshan Power Company Limited)
Under the 30·60 decarbonization goal, the task of reducing emissions in the power industry is extremely challenging. Traditional coal-fired power plants urgently need to undergo low-carbon transformation.Dabieshan Power Plant’s 75.6MW biomass co-firing project uses zero-carbon biomass fuel to replace coal, reducing CO₂ by 459.8k tons annually and cutting carbon per kWh by 15%. It also promotes agricultural waste recycling and supports both decarbonization and rural development, offering a solution to coal-fired power generation.

B04:  Sansha Island Flexible AC Transmission Project in Yangjiang for Offshore Wind Power ( Guangdong Yangjiang Power Supply Co., Ltd. of China Southern Power Grid)

With the increasing global demand for renewable energy, offshore wind power, as an important green energy source, is experiencing rapid development. In recent years, China's offshore wind power has gradually expanded to deeper waters, but there are many challenges in power transmission. The Sansha Island Offshore Wind Power Flexible AC project overcomes the current inefficient and resource-intensive traditional offshore wind power transmission challenge. It break through the technical barriers in delivering deep-sea wind power efficiently. This innovative solution helps meet the Greater Bay Area’s clean energy demand while reducing emissions, advancing China’s offshore wind capabilities.

B05:  World's First Wind and Solar-Powered Offshore Aquaculture Project (China Longyuan Power Group Corporation Limited )

To actively respond to the global action against climate change, implement the 30·60 decarbonization strategy, and promote energy transformation，Longyuan Power pioneered the “Guoneng Sharing” platform, combining floating offshore wind and solar power with intelligent fish farming. Through intelligent breeding and digital monitoring for revolutionary fishery breeding, this model achieves spatial synergy—generating power above water and cultivating fish below—while exploring a circular economy integrating energy and aquaculture.

B06: Zero-Carbon Smart Cultural Park Innovation (Beijing Tianning No.1 Cultural Technology Co., Ltd. )

China Huadian’s Tianning No.1 Park, transformed from a former thermal power plant, achieved carbon neutrality certification through distributed PV, energy-saving retrofits, and green electricity trading. Recognized as a national green and low-carbon case by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, it was showcased at COP28 as a model of urban industrial renewal.

B07: World’s First 600MW Subcritical Unit Efficiency Upgrade (Guoneng Yuedian Taishan Power Generation Co., Ltd. )
Taishan Power Plant upgraded a 600MW subcritical unit with five core technologies, reducing coal consumption by 25.94 g/kWh and increasing peak-shaving capacity to 20%. The project cuts 250,000 tons of CO₂ annually, setting a benchmark for “low-emission, high-efficiency” transformation in coal power. Its energy supply guarantee story was featured on CCTV. This project has led to the transformation of coal-fired power generation from "pollution control" to "active emission reduction", demonstrating the plant’s social responsibility for the green and low-carbon transition.

B08: CCUS Demonstration Supports Green Development (Shanghai Electric Power Co., Ltd.)

In response to the construction of the world-class ecological island of Chongming Island and the low-carbon island of Changxing Island, the company has integrated its transformation and development strategy with the demands of users. The company launched an integrated carbon capture, transport, and utilization project in Chongming, supplying captured CO₂ for welding protection gas. With an annual reduction of 100,000 tons of CO₂ (equivalent to 5.56 million trees), it fills a domestic gap and creates economic and environmental benefits.

B09: Replicable Zero-Carbon Industrial Park Model (Towngas Energy Investment Co., Ltd.)

To overcome the challenges such as a single energy structure, low energy efficiency, and difficult investment returns in industrial park transformation,Towngas Energy promotes “Zero-Carbon Smart Industrial Parks” through an integrated solution involving investment, construction, operation, service collaboration and AI-powered energy-carbon platforms. This replicable model has enabled 128 parks to reduce costs and emissions, supporting industrial green transition.

B10: Near-Zero Carbon Prefabricated Substations (Protection Automation System Branch of Zhejiang Xuji Electrical Co., Ltd.)

XJ Electric’s prefabricated substation solution uses green power, multi-source sensing,  smart management and electrical carbon measurement to achieve fast deployment, low carbon, and digital intelligence. It addresses traditional issues like long approval cycles, high emissions, low efficiency and poor environmental integration, supporting the new power system.

B11: Solar-Powered Pond Remediation in Xiong’an (China Datang Xiong'an Energy Co., Ltd., and China Datang Technology Innovation Co., Ltd.)

The two company innovated with a “PV + pond remediation” model, creating the first ground-based distributed new energy demonstration in Xiong’an. Using idle ponds for PV installation and hybrid capacitors to stabilize fluctuations, it supports both clean energy and ecological improvement, offering new paths for new energy development, ecological improvement and the beautiful villages.

B12: EV Virtual Power Plant for Carbon Reduction and Profit Earning (Southern City Power Supply Company and Marketing Service Center of State Grid Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Company)

The peak period of electric vehicle charging in Shanghai is continuously exacerbating the peak-valley difference of the power grid. The two companies, in partnership with users, vehicle manufacturers, load suppliers, power generation enterprises, etc., developed a vehicle-grid interaction system that aggregates EV charging piles to participate in grid regulation. This “virtual power plant” leverages adjustable charging loads to optimize clean energy use, improve load allocation, extend service chains, reduce emissions, and create new economic value for EV owners.

B13: “PV + Coal Subsidence Zone” Creates Climate Governance Model (China Three Gorges Renewables (Group) Co., Ltd.)

In Huainan, Anhui, mining caused land subsidence and polluted lakes. Using “aquaculture-PV + ecological restoration,” the company adopted five integrated measures—clean energy, revived spaces, ecological carbon sinks, climate resilience, and green transition—to synergize energy optimization with ecosystem recovery, offering a dual mitigation-adaptation innovation for global climate challenges.

B14: Self-Cleaning Solar Panels Boost Efficiency ( Beijing Jingneng International Holding Co., Ltd. )

Photovoltaic power generation, with its green and renewable characteristics, has become an important pillar of the energy transition. Pollution reduces PV efficiency and raises costs. Jingneng International developed an autonomous cleaning system that increased output by 8% in trials, providing a replicable case for the research on photovoltaic module cleaning technology and supporting clean energy growth.

B15: Hainan’s Digital Grid Powers Climate Response (Hainan Power Grid Co., Ltd.)

Guided by national carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals and free trade port needs, Hainan Power Grid is building a new power system with the digital power grid at the core. Partnering with government and businesses, it created an intelligent low-carbon governance ecosystem, contributing a tropical island model for climate resilience and injecting green energy into the development of new quality productive forces.

B16: Waking “Sleeping” Carbon Assets (Suzhou Power Supply Branch of State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power Co.,Ltd)

SMEs struggled to trade carbon assets. Suzhou Power Supply Branch launched China’s first inclusive carbon credit system, offering one-stop services for verification, reduction, trading, and financing. This fills the gap in the domestic carbon market mechanism and enables small projects like distributed PV and wetlands to monetize carbon value.

B17: Negative-Carbon Substations Heal Grasslands (State Grid Inner Mongolia Eastern Power Company)

Eastern Inner Mongolia’s harsh climate and grasslands posed dual emissions and carbon sink loss challenges. The company developed smart negative-carbon substations with ecological restoration, solving grid development and desertification problems in the high-altitude desertification area in a replicable green model.

B18: “Replace and Upgrade” Initiative for Solar Sustainability (Haining Power Supply Company of State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power Co.,Ltd)

Based on the design lifespan of 15 to 25 years for photovoltaic power stations, starting from 2025, the first wave of photovoltaic equipment retirement will occur in China. Failure to update in time will directly affect power supply reliability, economy and carbon emission reduction. In response, Haining Power Supply Company created a triple-pillar approach (policy, technology, recycling) to manage retirements in Zhejiang’s solar-dense region, ensuring reliability, economy, and continued carbon reduction.

B19: Digital Clean Energy in Qinghai (Datang Qinghai Energy Devslopment Co.,Ltd.)

Drawing on three years of innovation in digital energy ecosystem, development of large-scale photovoltaic bases and the promotion of clean heating, the company proposed the three-part strategy—digital-enabled development, high-renewable systems, and green livelihood projects—to design the multi-dimensional solutions to support Qinghai’s goal to become a national clean energy leader.

B20: Microgrid “Entrepreneurs” Build Zero-Carbon Villages (Yuncheng Branch Company of State Grid Shanxi Electric Power Co.,Ltd.)

Rural solar often underused. Yuncheng company created a “rooftop PV-storage-direct current distribution-flexible power consumption” microgrid linking households, neighborhoods, and villages. This solved instability and underuse issues, establishing China’s first zero-carbon village demonstration. It serves as a model for rural energy transition.

B21: “Near-Zero Carbon” Shipbuilding (Nantong Power Supply Branch of State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power Co.,Ltd)

Shipbuilding emissions are concentrated in ship building. Nantong branch helped COSCO optimize processes like welding and painting with energy upgrades, PV-storage, and shore power. The pilot cut 4,500 tons of CO₂ annually, earning national green case recognition.

B22: “3C” Strategy for Climate and Ecology (China National Nuclear Power Co.,Ltd)

Facing severe environmental risks globally, CNNP promotes “Co-governance, Co-existence, and Co-prosperity” (3C) to  promote the collaborative governance of climate change and ecological protection, and build a harmonious homeland between humans and nature, facilitating the green transformation of the economy and the vision of “Beautiful China.”