Tuesday, 20 September 2016

Urban Chinese willing to pay extra for green electricity

Air pollution has been high on the Chinese government’s agenda for some time and reducing air pollution is a key target in the 13th FYP.  It is heartening to see that China’s urban population are well engaged in the effort to take ownership of the problem, by indicating their willingness to become more ‘green’, even at additional personal cost.  This shows the success of the leadership in advocating the benefits of renewable energy and supporting the development of the industry.

Biomass is a good example of a renewable energy industry that has grown rapidly from 0MW to over 4000MW in10 years (based on 2014 NDRC FIT list update).  The government hasn’t charged consumers any extra for clean energy from biomass (normally 0.36-0.53CNY/KWh, although this varies a little from province to province); and biomass project developers have been granted 0.75CNY/Kwh FIT (2010) since the 1st HTHP biomass power plant started operation 10 years ago. The industry continues to mature, with stabilising of profitability at acceptable levels. The prospects appear bright as the more sophisticated developers understand the importance of more advanced and efficient technologies, a proactive approach to maintenance and the fuel logistics for biomass become more streamlined. With careful selection of the right technologies and good management, the future cost of providing renewable biomass need not impose any additional cost to the consumer.

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