Gone with the wind? China determined to end wind power subsidies by 2020
First batch of wind farms approved that will not benefit from higher tariffs for their electricity relative to those of coal-fired generators
Beijing has approved the nation’s first ever batch of wind farms with power prices at parity with coal fired generators, signalling a resolve to do away with subsidies for wind projects by 2020.
The 13 wind farms with a total capacity of 707 megawatts have been given the green light for construction, the National Energy Administration said in a statement on its website on Thursday.
The scale is small relative to the 149,000MW installed nationally at the end of last year.
They are all located in northern China, which has the nation’s richest renewable energy resources.
Just over half of the capacity is in Hebei province, with the rest in Gansu and Heilongjiang provinces, besides the Ningxia Hui and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions.
The pilot scheme aims “to sufficiently utilise wind resources in various regions, push for new wind energy technology applications, raise competitiveness of wind power and promote healthy sustainable development,” the administration said.
The local power distributor is required to buy all of the output from the new wind farms.