China moves against coal-fired captive power plants
The NDRC said local authorities should also enact policies to regulate and supervise captive power plants as part of Beijing’s effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution.
BEIJING: Local Chinese authorities should “seriously deal with” coal-fired captive power plants that fail to meet power efficiency, safety and environmental standards, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a statement on Monday.
The NDRC said local authorities should also enact policies to regulate and supervise captive power plants as part of Beijing’s effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution.
Captive power plants are typically built by large industrial enterprises, such as steel, aluminium and petrochemical producers, to secure power supplies and lower power costs.
At the end of 2016, China had an installed captive power capacity of 142 gigawatts, with more than 80 percent fuelled by coal, according to an earlier survey conducted by the NDRC.
New captive coal-fired power capacity was banned by the NDRC in 2015 in the smog-prone Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Yangtze river delta and Pearl river delta area to reduce air pollution.
Industries using captive power plants were also encouraged in 2015 to replace coal with clean energy such as hydro, wind and solar power, as part of China’s effort to boosting renewable energy consumption and ease environmental pressures.
The NDRC on Monday said local authorities should reduce taxes on captive power plants recycling excess heat, gas and pressure from power generation, to encourage users to improve power efficiency.
Source: Reuters
