Energy Administration Tightens Control Over Wind Curtailment: Project Approvals in Six Regions Flagged Red

In response to severe wind curtailment, the National Energy Administration has launched the strictest and broadest rectification campaign in history. On February 22, the Economic Information Daily reporter learned from the National Energy Administration website that the 2017 wind power investment monitoring and early warning results show that Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Ningxia, Gansu, and Xinjiang (including the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps) and other provinces (regions) are red-alert areas for wind power development and construction, and will not be allowed to approve the construction of new wind power projects.

According to the "Guiding Opinions on Energy Work in 2017" issued by the National Energy Administration last week, this year the government will strictly control new grid-connected projects in areas with severe wind curtailment and power restrictions, release the 2017 wind power industry early warning information, and suspend arrangements for new wind power scale in provinces where the wind curtailment rate exceeds 20%.

The 2016 wind power grid-connected operation situation shows that wind curtailment worsened this year, with annual curtailed wind power amounting to 49.7 billion kWh, up 46.6% from 33.9 billion kWh in 2015. Among them, Gansu (43%), Xinjiang (38%), Jilin (30%), Inner Mongolia (21%), Heilongjiang (19%), and Ningxia (13%) together accounted for 43.3 billion kWh of curtailed wind power, about 87.1% of the total curtailed wind power, equivalent to 22.4% of the newly grid-connected capacity in 2016.

The National Energy Administration requires these six provinces and regions not to approve the construction of new wind power projects and to take effective measures to solve the wind curtailment problem. Grid enterprises shall not accept new grid-connection applications for wind power projects (including projects under construction, approved projects, and projects included in planning), and dispatched agencies shall no longer issue new power generation business licenses for their newly built wind power projects. It is required to postpone the construction of wind power projects in the Zhundong region of Xinjiang, the Turpan Baili wind area, and the second batch of the second phase of Jiuquan, and the transmission channels already put into operation or under construction shall be mainly used to absorb existing wind power projects.

At the same time, in order to effectively increase the supply of clean energy in the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan region, the Energy Administration of Hebei Province shall accelerate the construction of the second phase wind power projects of the Chengde base, ensure that all projects are fully grid-connected and operational by the end of 2017, and, according to the construction progress of the Zhangjiakou Renewable Energy Demonstration Zone plan, orderly advance the construction of the third phase wind power projects of the Zhangjiakou base. Scattered wind power projects shall no longer be built in the Zhangjiakou and Chengde areas. The Energy Administration of Shanxi Province shall reasonably determine the annual construction scale of wind power base projects in northern Shanxi according to the line construction schedule and operation dispatch conditions, as well as the absorption and peak-shaving conditions of the receiving-end market, and orderly advance project construction. Scattered wind power projects shall no longer be built in the northern Shanxi area. Yunnan and Zhejiang shall continue to advance the 2016 development and construction plan and shall not add new construction scale.

In addition, for provinces (regions) with clearly defined minimum guaranteed hours, the Energy Administration requires them, in accordance with the requirements of the "Measures for the Administration of Full Guaranteed Purchase of Renewable Energy Power Generation" and the "Notice on Doing a Good Job in the Administration of Full Guaranteed Purchase of Wind Power and Photovoltaic Power Generation," and in light of local actual conditions, to formulate implementation rules for carrying out the full guaranteed purchase system, submit them to the Energy Administration before the end of April, and implement them.