China to Launch Green Certificate Trade in July
China National Renewable Energy Center has issued the second-batch of green certificates. In the second-batch, a total of 131,047 green certificates have been given out, including a grid-connected installation of 131,047,000kWh. These were acquired by 15 new energy projects, including 3 PV and 12 wind power projects. Earlier this month, China National Renewable Energy Center issued the first-batch of 230,135 green certificates, including 20 wind power projects, with the installed capacity and grid-connected installation reaching 11.25GW and 230,135,000kWh, respectively. China conducts the whole thing through issuing a batch only after a batch of applications. The previous two batches already cumulated 3 PV and 32 wind power projects, totaling 18.7GW. Projects are located in Hebei, Fujian, Guizhou, Heilongjiang, Shandong, Gansu, Guangxi, Xinjiang, Jiangsu, Sichuan, and Ningxia. The cumulative green certificates that have been issued were 361,182 units, which was equivalent to 361,182,000kWh of grid-connected installation.
China tends to conduct trials in the initial stage
China’s green certificate trading was requested by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Finance, and the National Energy Administration (NEA) this February. They requested to launch the trading of green certificates on July 1st. The green certificate trading will be running as trials in the initial stage with only a small scale can be approved. According to EnergyTrend’s previous investigation, the green certificate trial will focus on wind power and ground-mounted PV power plants. Those that get green certificates will not be allowed for subsidies. Since the green certificate requires practical applications, review process, and complete market trading mechanism, it’s believed that the green certificate will help reduce government subsidies to the renewables sector if it works effectively. But Mr. Li Peng, deputy division chief at China’s NEA pointed out that the purpose of green certificates is to unite social consensus and promote industrial development. The green certificate is expected to be officially put into practice in 2018, but trials will firstly be conducted in July 1st 2017. Overall, the green certificate may remain as a trial for a while.
China Business Network interviewed many manufacturers as most manufacturers believe that subsidies can’t be replaced by green certificates in the short run, but if it works out smoothly, it will bring a revolution to the energy trading system. Meanwhile, for China that has always been focusing on ‘wind, light, and grid parity’, green certificates will definitely attract many people and will be a good complementary role during this transition period. Dean of China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy, Xiamen University, indicated that the scale of the first two-batches of green certificate is relatively small to China, and thus the impact is limited. The influence of green certificates won’t show until it’s widely promoted. In order to promote green certificates, it has to work with the renewable energy system. This way, users can determine whether purchasing green certificate or reducing carbon emission themselves has more economic benefits.
Source:ET
