Measurement on China’s High-quality Energy Development Level and Spatial Disequilibrium Analysis

Clarifying the spatial evolution of China's high-quality energy development level and regional disparities is the key link to promote the energy revolution. Guided by building a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient modern energy system, a comprehensive evaluation index system should be established for the high-quality development level of energy. China’s 29 provinces (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Tibet and Hainan) are divided into four regions: northeast, east, central and west. The projection pursuit evaluation model is used to measure the high-quality energy development level of each province from 2010 to 2017, and the time series evolution of the high-quality energy development level is analyzed. By using Dagum Gini coefficient and its decomposition method, the regional disparity of high-quality energy development level is decomposed and analyzed. With the help of system cluster analysis, the high-quality development level of energy in each province is classified spatially. The results show that: firstly, the overall level of high-quality energy development in China fluctuates slightly and grows steadily; secondly, the high-quality development level of regional energy has spatial autocorrelation, and the spatial agglomeration effect between high-value areas and low-value areas is significant; thirdly, the regional development level gap is fluctuating and increasing, and the gap between the eastern region and other regions is the main source of the spatial imbalance of the current high-quality energy development level; fourthly, the high-quality energy development level of 29 provinces is divided into five categories, among which Jiangsu is the only province with super high development level.