Policies Helping China's Wind Power to Move Smoothly towards an Era of Affordability

Column:Industry News Time:2020-04-08
On March 10th, the National Energy Administration issued the "2020 Wind Power Project Construction Plan", which continues the overall approach set by the 2019

On March 10th, the National Energy Administration issued the "2020 Wind Power Project Construction Plan", which continues the overall approach set by the 2019 policy, including actively promoting affordable grid access projects, orderly promoting projects that require national financial subsidies, fully implementing power transmission and consumption conditions, and strict monitoring of project development and construction information. This ensures the continuity of the policy and is conducive to promoting the industry's smooth transition to affordable grid access, achieving healthy and sustainable development.

The policy continues the idea of "encouraging priority construction of affordable grid connected wind power projects" proposed in last year's plan, requiring provincial energy regulatory departments to actively organize and carry out affordable grid connected projects: firstly, to implement conditions such as power transmission and consumption; Secondly, ensure that the project can be approved and started construction before the end of 2020; Thirdly, we should focus on encouraging all types of subsidized wind power projects that are under construction or have not been substantially started after approval to voluntarily convert into affordable projects; Fourth, the project information should be reported to the Energy Bureau and copied to the local agency before the end of April. The Energy Bureau will promptly collect and publish the information.

In order to promote the consumption of new energy and support the smooth integration of new installed capacity into the grid, policies have proposed the implementation of total planning control. It is stipulated that the 2020 planned integration goals of each provincial-level region in the "13th Five Year Plan for Wind Power Development" will be reduced by the scale of wind power projects that have been connected to the grid by the end of 2019 and have been approved and committed to construction within the validity period. This will be the total scale of projects that can be arranged for national financial subsidies in this province (district, city) in 2020, Each provincial energy regulatory department should promptly disclose the remaining capacity space to the society. The policy also stipulates that offshore wind power development will be organized in accordance with the 13th Five Year Plan, and provinces with grid connected capacity and construction scale exceeding the planned targets will suspend bidding in 2020.

In addition, policies encourage innovation and promotion of decentralized wind power construction in various provinces and regions, and carry out market-oriented trading pilot projects. This is one of the paths for the development of wind power towards non subsidy. It will promote medium to long-term cooperation between enterprises with large electricity loads, distribution networks, industrial parks, and wind power enterprises, ensuring the fairness and stability of wind power supply.

The policy provided strong support for the steady and orderly development of China's wind power industry in 2020. Looking forward to the future, Qin Haiyan pointed out that during the 14th Five Year Plan period, the sustained development of the wind power industry requires both full guaranteed acquisitions to protect and long-term fixed electricity prices to reduce uncertainty and financing costs. From 2020 to 2025, China's onshore wind power market will gradually shift towards affordable projects, decentralized wind power projects, and renewable projects. Due to the widespread lifespan of wind turbines ranging from 20 to 25 years, onshore wind power in China is expected to recover through large-scale renewal after 2025. In addition, the continuous expansion of the wind power operation and maintenance market will also provide strong support for future industry growth.