Promoting the High-Quality Development of Central China Through Energy Revolution: Theoretic Analysis and Implementation Paths

Abstract

The rise of Central China is a major strategy for China’s regional development. In recent years, Central China has gained a notable late-mover advantage. As China enters the stage of high-quality development, Central China needs to keep up with this trend to improve its comprehensive strength and competitiveness. As energy is the foundation for economic and social development, high-quality development requires a high-quality energy system and should be supported by energy revolution. The five provinces (i.e., Hunan, Hubei, Henan, Anhui, and Jiangxi) from Central China have excellent resource endowment; however, the new energy potentials and total energy production of these provinces are inadequate, and the energy supply and demand are imbalanced. In this article, we analyze the internal mechanism of promoting the rise of Central China through energy revolution, and conclude that the quality of energy consumption should be optimized in Central China to promote the rise of this region in terms of economy, society, and ecology. Moreover, the overall goal for the medium- and long-term energy development in Central China is discussed. To this end, Central China should promote energy conservation and emission reduction to improve energy efficiency and green development, develop multi-energy complementary technologies to promote clean energy consumption, and strengthen inter-provincial cooperation in energy to ensure the security of external energy supply. Specifically, several implementing paths are proposed including green and low-carbon development, supply-side reform, innovation-driven strategy, energy allocation optimization, and multi-energy integration.

Keywords

• energy revolution, rise of Central China, resources endowment, high quality development