China Aims to Stop Renewable Energy Being Wasted by 2020
by Muyu Xu and Beijing Newsroom
Nov. 13-14, 2017: Beijing – China aims to prevent power generated by its renewable energy sector being wasted by 2020, the country’s National Energy Administration (NEA) said on Monday.
Power from wind, solar and hydro plants is often wasted, as there is not enough transmission capacity to absorb it.  That leads to high curtailment rates, especially in northwestern China. 
The NEA said in a statement that the utilization rate of hydro-power plants in the southwestern provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan should reach around 90% by 2017. 
It expects the wind power curtailment rate to drop to about 30% in the northwestern provinces of Gansu and Xinjiang, and to around 20% in the northeastern region of Jilin, Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia in 2017. 
Solar power waste in Gansu and Xinjiang provinces should be controlled below around 20%, and in Shaanxi and Qinghai to below 10% this year, it added. 
Power generated from wind and solar power plants in other regions across the country will have to meet the 2017 targets set by the NEA last year, it said in the statement. 
China has vowed to raise the portion of its renewable and non-fossil fuel power consumption to 15% of total energy mix by 2020 and 20% by 2030. 
It also said that it will promote the power trade market and improve its cross-region power transmission capacity, to boost renewable energy consumption and cut its coal dependence. 
Coal-fired power capacity across the country will be capped at 1,100 GigaWatts by 2020, the NEA said.
China’s target to “effectively alleviate” renewable power waste remains under pressure, despite Beijing’s progress in boosting renewable energy consumption in the 1st 3 quarters of the year, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said in a statement on Tuesday.  “Winter is typically the toughest season for power generated from wind farms and solar plants to connect to the grids.  Some regions will face pressure to prevent a rebound of wind and solar waste rates,” said the NEA in the statement.
Power waste is caused when there is not enough transmission capacity to absorb the electricity generated by wind, solar and hydro-power plants.  That leading to high curtailment rates, particularly in northwestern and southwestern China. 
While the hydro-power utilization rates in the southwestern provinces of Sichuan, Guangxi and Yunan have climbed 2% during the 1st 3 quarters of 2017, the transmission grid may not be able to absorb more of the hydro-power that will be available as the region comes to the end of the flood season, the NEA said. 
Still, the wind curtailment rate across the country dropped 6.7% between January and September, compared to the same period a year ago, while the solar waste rate decreased 4%, the NEA said. 
The risks of high power curtailment remain high in Gansu and Xinjiang provinces, where more than 20% of solar power and around 30% of wind power was wasted in the 1st 9 months. 
Solar power waste rates rose in the smog-prone region of Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong and Shaanxi province, the NEA said without giving a reason for the increase. 
“Local authorities and grid companies should pay high attention to curb power waste in the renewable energy sectors,” said the NEA. 
The NEA will continue to promote renewable energy consumption, by encouraging power generators to trade with heating companies. 
China has planned to eliminate 44,000 coal-fired industrial boilers and switch households to natural gas or electric heating. 
The NEA will also further boost cross-region power transmission and power trade by improving transmission capacity from the provinces of Xinjiang to Henan, from Ningxia to Zhejiang and from Gansu to Hunan. 
On Monday, the NEA issued a statement saying China aims to stop all renewable energy wastage by 2020.
 www.reuters.com/article/us-china-renewables-waste/china-aims-to-stop-renewable-energy-being-wasted-by-2020-idUSKBN1DD136