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interface news reporter | ma yueran

During the National Two Sessions this year, one of the hot topics in the energy field is the proposal to amend the "Renewable Energy Law." A number of NPC deputies, including Zhang Tianren, chairman of Tianneng Holding Group, and Gao Jifan, chairman of Trina Solar (688599.SH), put forward their own opinions.

In 2005, the "the People's Republic of China Renewable Energy Law" (hereinafter referred to as the "Renewable Energy Law") was promulgated, formally implemented in 2006, and revised by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in 2009. So far, 15 years have passed.

Since the promulgation of the Renewable Energy Law, China's renewable energy industry has developed rapidly. Zhang Tianren stated in his motion that the "Renewable Energy Law" promotes China's renewable energy industry into a comprehensive, rapid, and large-scale development stage, and provides a solid legal guarantee for the transformation of energy structure and the construction of ecological civilization.

Gao Jifan also affirmed the effectiveness of the implementation of the Renewable Energy Law. At present, the law has formed an important institutional mechanism, including total target and planning, full guarantee acquisition, classified fixed electricity price, cost compensation, development fund and so on. On this basis, China's renewable energy regulations and policy system have been continuously improved, the level of development and utilization has been greatly improved, the level of science and technology has continued to progress, the level of industry and manufacturing has continued to increase, and the social benefits of renewable energy have become increasingly prominent.

As of 2023, China's total installed capacity of renewable energy has exceeded 1.45 billion kilowatts, accounting for more than half of the total installed capacity of power generation, surpassing thermal power.

But with the rapid development of the times and the industry, the top-level system design also exposed some problems.

"The" Renewable Energy Law "is relatively general in many aspects. Under today's situation, it is indeed necessary to amend it. It needs to be more specific and clear to make it more clearly enforceable in the law enforcement process." Zhong Baoshen, deputy to the National People's Congress and chairman of Longji green energy (601012.SH), also said in an interview with interface news reporters a few days ago.

Zhang Tianren believes that the national plan for the total medium-and long-term development of renewable energy lacks binding, and the goals of local planning and national planning are not fully connected , and the overall layout and construction speed are not consistent enough. The pressure of renewable energy consumption has not yet been fundamentally resolved at the institutional level, which has affected the healthy development of the industry to a certain extent.

In addition, problems such as the implementation of the full purchase system is not strong enough, the assessment system is not scientific enough, and the implementation of traditional energy corporate responsibilities is not clear enough, etc., also need to be resolved.

In 2019, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress organized an inspection of the enforcement of the Renewable Energy Law, pointing out typical problems in the implementation of the Renewable Energy Law, including greater pressure on the consumption of renewable energy and the full guarantee purchase system. The implementation is not in place, the problems of electricity price compensation and development funds are more prominent, and the connection with relevant fiscal, taxation, land, and environmental protection policies is not enough, and the research and application of renewable energy technology still needs to be strengthened, it is clearly proposed to further amend and improve the Renewable Energy Law.

"In the three years since the end of the law enforcement inspection, most of the above-mentioned problems have not been effectively resolved, but have become more prominent. The implementation of the main systems of the" Renewable Energy Law "has faced difficulties." Gao Jifan also said in the motion that there is a certain need to revise the law.

The system of fully guaranteed acquisitions is the focus that the delegates believe should be revised.

The so-called full guaranteed acquisition of renewable energy power generation refers to the grid enterprises (including power dispatching agencies) according to the national benchmark price and guaranteed acquisition utilization hours, combined with the market competition mechanism, through the implementation of the priority power generation system, under the premise of ensuring the safety of power supply, the full purchase of the on-grid electricity of renewable energy power generation projects within the scope of planning. The purpose of this initiative is to deal with the problem of large-scale new energy power grid and market consumption.

Zhang Tianren believes that the full guarantee purchase system should be improved. He suggested that it should be clear in the legislation, formulate reasonable renewable energy utilization targets, and clarify the legal positioning that power grid companies, power sales companies, and power users should share the responsibility for full guaranteed purchases, and implement the full guaranteed purchase system., To further stimulate the enthusiasm of power generation companies.

In addition, a scientific and reasonable assessment mechanism should be formulated, and the renewable energy target guidance and renewable energy power consumption responsibility weight assessment mechanism should be clearly stipulated in the law, so as to form a more scientific and reasonable target responsibility assessment system.

Gao Jifan also believes that the renewable energy power consumption responsibility system should be clarified in the Renewable Energy Law as the main supporting system of the renewable energy target system; establish market entities such as power grid enterprises, power sales enterprises and power users to jointly assume the responsibility for consumption, and link up with the green certificate and carbon trading mechanism at the same time, which will provide statistics and assessment for the healthy and sustainable development of renewable energy and double control data for carbon emissions, provide long-term system security.

Gao Jifan also proposed that the original Article 14 "The State shall implement a full guaranteed purchase system for renewable energy power generation." It is revised as "the State implements a system of indemnificatory purchase of renewable energy power generation. The competent department of energy under the State Council shall, in conjunction with the relevant departments, formulate specific measures for the indemnificatory purchase system of renewable energy power generation in accordance with the principle of" dividing the old from the new ".

At the same time, among the specific measures proposed for the guaranteed acquisition system, the first is to fully consider the policy background, development cost, technical level and other factors of new energy projects, and adopt the principle of "new methods for new people and old methods for the elderly" to continue to implement the stock project Full guaranteed acquisition, for incremental projects, allows provinces to differentiate the reasonable utilization level of new energy projects in the province according to local actual conditions. The second is to consolidate the responsibilities of power grid companies in terms of guaranteed acquisitions, strengthen power grid construction, build new power systems, and provide priority power generation and priority transmission services in accordance with the renewable energy power consumption guarantee mechanism.

In addition to the full guarantee purchase system , renewable energy electricity prices and subsidies are also a major focus.

Zhang Tianren suggested optimizing the adjustment of electricity price subsidies. It believes that with the development of renewable energy, the current subsidy policy is far from meeting the needs of renewable energy development. It is recommended to amend Article 24 of the law to increase subsidy funds through multiple channels, narrow the funding gap, and optimize subsidy payment procedures under the premise of overall consideration of the government's financial support capacity, environmental protection, and improvement of people's livelihood needs. Accelerate the improvement of renewable energy feed-in tariff market formation mechanism.

Gao Jifan believes that the current market trading mechanism is more designed for the characteristics of conventional power sources, which does not conform to the output characteristics of new energy sources and reduces the competitiveness of new energy sources in the spot power market. It is suggested that the follow-up electricity price and the power trading system should be improved, and the stock projects should not enter the power market according to the principle of "dividing the old and the new", and the fixed electricity price should continue to ensure the reasonable and legal income of the stock projects.

The feed-in tariff for the non-guaranteed acquisition of electricity for the incremental project is determined by the electricity market, and reasonable mechanisms are developed to ensure reasonable returns from new energy participation in electricity market transactions, such as the government-authorized CFDs mechanism and the 20-year PPA policy. At the same time, combined with the construction of green electricity green certificate market, will form a "electricity energy price green environment premium" market mechanism.

Therefore, Gao Jifan proposed that the original Chapter V "Price Management and Cost Compensation" of the Renewable Energy Law and Article 19 "The on-grid electricity price of renewable energy power generation projects shall be determined by the price authority of the State Council according to the characteristics of different types of renewable energy power generation and the conditions of different regions, in accordance with the principles conducive to promoting the development and utilization of renewable energy and economic rationality, and according to the development of renewable energy development and utilization technology timely adjustment. The on-grid tariff shall be published." was revised to "The development and reform department of the State Council, in conjunction with the national energy authority and other relevant departments, shall establish an on-grid electricity price and power trading system that is compatible with the characteristics of new energy in accordance with the principle of" new and old division."

He also suggested adding "the state implements the green power certificate system for renewable energy and establishes a unified national green power certificate system" to the original chapter V "price management and cost compensation.

Since last year, the national level has also frequently promoted the revision of the Renewable Energy Law. In September 2023, the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress issued a legislative plan to clarify three types of legislative projects. Among them, the "Renewable Energy Law" (revised) is included in the first category of projects, that is, the draft law that is planned to be submitted for deliberation during the term of office.