What’s new: China plans to waive licensing requirements and further simplify the approval process for some distributed wind power projects as the country overhauls the electricity market and makes massive investments in renewable energy.
According to a draft notice issued Thursday by the National Energy Administration, distributed wind power projects connected to the power grid with a voltage of 35 kilovolts or less will no longer be required to obtain a power business license.
The loosened rule is in response to a notice published in May 2022 by the National Development and Reform Commission. It proposed dropping the old approval process for such wind generating projects in favor of a registration-based system. Operators need only to register with the government before proceeding rather than waiting for approval.
The background: Distributed wind power projects are usually small or medium-sized power plants that connect to a low-voltage distribution level of the grid to serve on-site energy demand. Industrial parks, development zones and large factories are ideal users of distributed wind farms.
In contrast, centralized power generation usually involves the large-scale plants located away from end users that connect to a network of high-voltage transmission lines.
The development of distributed wind power in China has long been slower than expected because of a lengthy approval cycle, restrictions on land use and high financing and construction costs. Distributed wind power accounted for only 3% of China’s total wind turbine installations as of the end of 2021, according to the data from the China Renewable Energy Industries Association published in August 2022.
Contact reporter Denise Jia (huijuanjia@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bob.simison@caixin.com)
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