China NGO sues electricity grid firm for flouting renewable power rules
Friends of Nature, one of China’s oldest non-government organisations, has accused branches of China’s State Grid Corporation of violating a renewable energy law that forces grid firms to purchase clean power wherever it is available.
SHANGHAI: Friends of Nature is suing two regional power grid companies for failing to abide by rules that require them to maximise purchases of renewable electricity from wind, solar or hydro generators, the Chinese environmental group said on Thursday.
Friends of Nature, one of China’s oldest non-government organisations, has accused branches of China’s State Grid Corporation in the northwestern regions of Ningxia and Gansu of violating a renewable energy law that forces grid firms to purchase clean power wherever it is available.
Lawyers of the NGO held discussions with the grid at the intermediate people’s court in Ningxia’s capital, Yinchuan, on April 10, the organisation told Reuters on Thursday.
Officials with the State Grid and its branch companies were not immediately available for comment.
He Miao, a Friends of Nature campaigner involved in the suit, said a trial date had not yet been set and that it was still unclear whether they would be successful.
“But whether it is successful or not, we hope to mobilize more people into paying attention to the issue of making full use of new energy resources,” He said.
Friends of Nature said the unused renewable power resulted in wind and solar plant losses of more than 100 million yuan ($15.93 million), according to a report by Caixin magazine on Wednesday.
Poor grid availability – known as “curtailment” – has been one of the biggest challenges facing China’s renewable sector, with regulators struggling to provide sufficient transmission capacity for the vast number of new wind, solar and hydro plants that have gone into operation across the country.
According to China’s National Energy Administration, China wasted 41.9 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of wind power in 2017, down 16 percent annually but still 12 percent of total wind generation. Wasted solar amounted to 7.3 billion kWh last year, 6 percent of total generation.
The regulator pledged in March to improve coordination and build large power storage stations to help remedy the problem.
China’s revised Renewable Energy Law, effective from 2010, compels power transmission companies to “fully acquire” all power generated by renewable sources that meet grid connection standards. The law was designed to prevent grid firms from prioritising cheaper but polluting coal-fired power.
Friends of Nature recently filed a lawsuit against a hydropower developer in southwest China’s Yunnan province, accusing it of violating rules related to the protection of nature reserves. ($1 = 6.2760 yuan)
Source: Reuters
