Abstract:
Chinese energy development nowadays has multiple challenges from home and abroad, and there is an urgent need to improve the quality and efficiency of its development to meet the growing needs of the people in economic, social and ecological aspects. Firstly, in this paper, an inter-provincial high-quality energy development indicator system was constructed around six dimensions: safety and reliability, green and cleanliness, high efficiency and energy conservation, energy sharing, pollution reduction and carbon reduction, and technological innovation. The level of high-quality energy development and changes in the characteristics of 30 provinces from 2012—2022 were measured and analyzed. Secondly, the synergistic relationship between different energy high-quality development indicators was quantified using a complex network based on product space, which provides scientific support for promoting provincial high-quality energy development and identifying priorities and policy consistency in the process of energy high-quality development. The results are as follows. (1) The overall and regional quality energy development level of China shows a steady upward trend from 2012 to 2022, with more rapid energy development in the central-south and southwestern regions, a higher energy development level in the eastern and central-south regions, and a lower energy development level in the northeastern region. (2) Compared to 2012, the overall energy security and stability of the country has declined, technological innovation has increased significantly, and the difference in the level of energy sharing has been reduced significantly. The level of technological innovation in eastern and central provinces such as Guangdong, Hubei and Anhui has significantly improved, and the level of “clean” energy structure in eastern coastal and southwestern provinces such as Shandong and Sichuan has been continuously increasing. Guizhou, Qinghai, Henan and Hubei have achieved remarkable achievements in reducing pollution and carbon emissions, but the imbalance between regional energy supply and demand and the problems of “high input, high energy consumption and low efficiency” in Ningxia, Shanxi and other coal-rich provinces are still prominent. (3) The indicators of terminal electrification level, investment in green energy and investment in energy infrastructure construction are closely synergistic with a large number of energy indicators, and will play a key role in achieving high-quality energy development in the future.