China: A new program for maximising RE in the Chinese energy system

China National Renewable Energy Centre has together with the Danish Energy Agency, the Children's Investment Fund Foundation and the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory defined a five-year program to assist the implementation of the Chinese energy revolution.

The new five-year program called Boosting Renewable Energy as part of China’s Energy System Revolution will follow the five-year Sino-Danish Renewable Energy Development Program (RED Program) which was concluded on 16 December 2014.

The aim of the new program is to promote renewable energy as a vital part of the future Chinese energy system, allowing China to implement international best-practice solutions for the transformation of their energy system.

The Danish Energy Agency (DEA) and the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory has extensive expertise within renewable energy and in the development of a reliable, stable and sustainable energy supply. China National Renewable Energy Centre (CNREC) has chosen to cooperate with these international front-runners to bring international experiences and success stories to a Chinese audience with the aim to find the best solutions for a Chinese energy transformation. The program is funded by the British charity, Children's Investment Fund Foundation, as part of their climate mitigation activities.

The program will give recommendations and support to the Chinese National Energy Administration (NEA) regarding the decisions on the future targets for renewable energy and for coal reduction. It will address the most critical obstacles for the future development of renewable energy and it will develop a comprehensive look at the whole energy system from demand to production in order to find the most optimal ways to develop a sustainable energy system.

The program focuses on four main research areas as well as development and publication of a China Renewable Energy Outlook with comprehensive analyses of the future Chinese energy system with high shares of renewable energy. The four research areas are:

• Scenarios for a Beautiful China - Analysing the impact of high shares of RE in the system from a technical, economic and institutional point of view.
• RE-Friendly Grid Development Strategy - Examining different grid development strategies and grid operation strategies for the optimal use of the transmission grid taking into account RE penetration, carbon emission, and air pollution.
• Power System Flexibility - The research activity on power system flexibility will evaluate the broad range of measures for making the operation of the power system more flexible. Technical measures as well as economic incentives for power producers, dispatch centres, grid companies and power consumers will be analysed based on international experiences from countries with a high share of renewable in the power system, e.g. Denmark.
• Boosting Distributed Generation - The research on distributed generation will address technical, economical and institutional barriers for potential widespread deployment of RE on distribution level.

The role of the Danish Energy Agency
The ongoing cooperation between CNREC and the Danish Energy Agency (DEA) will partly focus on the "Boosting Renewable Energy as part of China’s Energy System Revolution" running from 2014-2019, and partly as an extension of the initiatives from the RED-Program. The continuation of the initiatives from the RED-Program is expected to be finalised in 2016 and will focus on:

• Renewable energy for heating
• Roadmaps for wind, solar and bioenergy
• Off shore wind
• Green energy cities

The conclusion of the RED-Program and the official launch of the "Boosting Renewable Energy as part of China’s Energy System Revolution" was held at a dissemination seminar on 16 December at Tangla Hotel in Beijing.

Anton Beck
Kontorchef
Center for Global Rådgivning og Forhandling
Tlf.: 29 62 39 96
anb@ens.dk
 

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