Risk becomes a bottleneck for renewable energy development

In China, renewable energy resources are very abundant and there is great potential for development and utilization. However, most power plants are currently experiencing difficulties in investing in renewable energy technology application projects.

The China Sankei Shimbun learned from a number of power generation companies that one of the most prominent difficulties is that the technical application of renewable energy has high initial operating costs and risks, leading to high prices. At present, in addition to hydropower, the cost of renewable energy power generation is much higher than the cost of coal and electricity. High costs have inhibited the growth of the renewable energy market. In addition, the small market creates obstacles to the reduction of the cost of renewable energy. Such a vicious cycle has made the development of the renewable energy industry into a predicament.

Shen Hongwen, a researcher in the new energy industry at China Investment Advisors, said in an interview with reporters: “China's renewable energy is still in its early stages of development. The industrial chain is not perfect, the core technology is weak, and the equipment's R&D and manufacturing capabilities are obviously insufficient. Wind power, photovoltaics, thermal power, liquid fuels The high cost of products is also a normal phenomenon. This is a problem that all industries will face in the early stages of development."

A strong manufacturing industry is an important foundation for the development of the renewable energy industry. If China does not quickly establish a strong manufacturing industry as a support for the development of the entire renewable energy industry, the current situation in which key technologies and major equipment rely on imports cannot be fundamentally reversed. China's renewable energy industry may become permanent forever. Little "old child" grows up.

To this end Shen Hongwen suggested: "The relevant national departments, local governments, and enterprises can work together to actively increase investment in technology research and development, promote the popularization and popularization of core equipment, and thus significantly reduce the production costs of related products."

In the process of promoting the renewable energy market, it encountered many obstacles, such as the lack of understanding of the strategic, long-term, and arduous nature of renewable energy development by many people, which led to the ups and downs of industrial development; the power grid to accept renewable energy power The lack of power has led to a large number of wind farms “discarding winds” in recent years; the lack of enthusiasm for oil companies to integrate biological liquid fuels into the refined oil circulation system has restricted the development of the biological liquid fuel industry; property managers often use various pretexts to prevent households from using solar energy. Household water heaters hinder the further promotion and popularization of domestic water heaters.

“The initial stage of any new technology application is high cost and the market is immature, so it needs the support of national policies. The development of renewable energy can not only meet the needs of China’s energy, but also can ease the pressure on the environment and climate change and improve the energy of our country. We can guarantee the ability to reduce dependence on petroleum and coal and solve the problem of energy consumption in remote areas. Therefore, there is great market potential in the future,” said Dr. Bai Mei, associate researcher at the Institute of Industrial Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Therefore, China must explicitly adopt the national apportionment and government subsidy measures to deal with the high cost of using renewable energy to power the development and utilization of renewable energy in China. On December 4, 2012, the National Development and Reform Commission announced the "Renewable Energy Pricing Subsidy and Quota Trading Program (October 2010 - April 2011)", including a power generation project subsidy form, an announcement of renewable energy independent power system subsidy form, Power generation access network subsidy table electromechanical price additional quota trading program.

In addition, according to a reporter from the China Securities Journal, the Regulations on the Administration of Renewable Energy Quotas, the most important supporting rule for the Renewable Energy Law, is expected to be introduced in the near future. In future management measures, the renewable energy power generation quota system may take two forms. One is to forcibly allocate quotas to the grid companies, and requires that a certain percentage of their purchased electricity must come from renewable energy; the other is The mandatory allocation of quotas to power generation companies requires that renewable power generated by the power generated by them must occupy a certain percentage.

According to a research report released by the International Renewable Energy Agency in June, the cost of generating electricity from renewable energy is decreasing year by year. This undoubtedly subverts the traditional view that clean energy technologies are too expensive.

According to Dolf Gielen, director of the Center for Innovation and Technology at the International Renewable Energy Agency, the market is growing rapidly and the cost of renewable energy generation is likely to decline further. In 2011, the amount invested in the renewable energy supply chain amounted to US$260 billion.