China has banned new PV power station projects in Xinjiang, Gansu, and some areas in Tibet, due to oversupply resulting to overcapacities which have overstrained local grids.
The policy is meant to avoid the curtailment problem, which has been plaguing the green power market, giving rise to energy storage systems and smart grids.
The scale of curtailment for PV power and wind power in China has jumped to over 10%, up from two years ago, as green energy loss in northern and northwestern China has topped 30%, due to inability of municipal governments to transmit massive green power to big cities.
To alleviate the problem, China banned new wind-power projects in Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Ningxia, and Gansu in Feb. 2017, designating them as areas with red alert for wind power. Utilities no long accept applications for grid connection by green power operators, even for projects under construction.
Given excessive PV power capacities and insufficient power transmission volume, the National Energy Administration of China has designated Xinjiang, Gansu, and some areas of Tibet as areas of red alert for PV power. PV power curtailment rates have topped 10% and 16%, respectively, in Gansu and Xinjiang, compared with the national average of 3%.
Due to overcapacities and heavy financial burden, China imposed strict restriction on PV power projects and slashed subsidies in mid-2018, encouraging no-subsidy projects, instead, for which it unveiled plan for no-subsidy pilot PV power projects last August.
In addition, the Chinese government publicized no-subsidy renewable energy notice and 12 projects in Jan. 2019, which can break ground by the end of 2020 after receiving approval.
No-subsidy pilot projects or other projects cannot be built in areas with red alert and developers have to guarantee full grid connection for power output.
(Collaborative media: TechNews, first photo is for illustration, courtesy of BlackRockSolar via Flick CC BY 2.0)