China Energy Outlook 2020 - Flipbook - Page 100
In recent years, fast-paced renewable energy development has created double-digit rates of
renewable curtailment in China (Deign, 2017; NEA, 2017a). Renewable-rich regions in western
China located far from load centers along the coast combined with other factors such as
generators confined by annual generation hour quotas and transmission bottlenecks have
contributed to this problem.
China has taken several measures to ease these curtailments. In October 2018, NDRC and NEA
jointly issued the Clean Energy Consumption Action Plan (2018–2020) (NDRC, 2018e) that sets
mandatory national overall targets and specific targets for key provinces in reducing renewable
energy curtailment for the next three years. For example, the national goal is to keep the wind
energy abandonment rate below 12%, 10%, and 5%, respectively, in 2018, 2019, and 2020 and
keep the photovoltaic power abandonment rate below 5% in all three years between 20182020. The measures that have been introduced to reduce renewable energy curtailment
include barring further projects in provinces where the curtailment rate is high, increasing
transmission capacity between the renewable-rich provinces and load centers in the east and
south, and encouraging renewable energy to participate in the country’s power markets.
In 2018, China reduced its average curtailment rates for wind and solar to 7% and 3%,
respectively, while generation from wind and solar energy grew by 20% and 50%, respectively,
during 2017 (NEA, 2019a). As shown in Table 2-18, renewable curtailment has continued to
drop in 2019.
Table 2-18. National Average Curtailment Rates and Total Curtailment for Wind and Solar Power
Generation in China, 2017-2019.
2017
2018
First ½
2019
Wind
National average curtailment rate
12%
7%
4.7%
National total curtailment amount (TWh)
41.9
27.7
10.5
Solar
National average curtailment rate
5.8%
3.0%
2.4%
National total curtailment amount (TWh)
7.3
5.5
2.6
Sources: NEA, 2018b; NEA, 2018c; NEA, 2018d; NEA, 2018e; NEA, 2019b; NEA, 2019c; NEA, 2019d
Renewable Energy Obligation Scheme
A renewable energy power consumption annual obligation has been established to achieve
minimum consumption levels of electricity produced from renewable energy for each
jurisdiction in China.
NDRC and NEA released the Notice on Establishing and Improving the Safeguard Mechanism for
Renewable Energy Power Consumption on May 10, 2019, establishing the Renewable Energy
Obligation Scheme – similar to the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) in the U.S. - that
provides for a renewable energy power consumption annual mandatory obligation for each
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