Photovoltaic benchmark price: difficult to implement subsidy funds

After publishing the article “Photovoltaic benchmark electricity price or set at 1.15 yuan/degree” last week, the National Development and Reform Commission issued a notice on improving the on-grid electricity price policy of solar photovoltaic power generation, and made clear this news.

According to the notice, the solar photovoltaic power generation projects that were approved for construction before July 1, 2011, completed and put into production on December 31, 2011, and whose prices have not yet been approved by the Committee, have been uniformly approved at the on-grid tariff of 1.15 yuan per kilowatt-hour. Solar photovoltaic power generation projects approved on or after July 1, 2011, as well as solar photovoltaic power generation projects approved before July 1, 2011 but not yet completed and put into production as of December 31, 2011, except for Tibet, still perform 1.15 per kilowatt-hour. In addition to the on-grid tariffs of the yuan, the on-grid tariffs of other provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) are all implemented at the rate of 1 yuan per kilowatt-hour. In the future, the National Development and Reform Commission will also make timely adjustments based on factors such as changes in investment costs and technological progress.

The notice also stipulates that the owner’s solar photovoltaic power generation project shall be determined through the bidding of the concession right, and its on-grid electricity price shall be executed according to the bid price, and the winning bid price shall not be higher than the benchmark price of solar photovoltaic power generation. Previously there were media reports that the National Energy Administration plans to launch a third round of concession bidding in the second half of this year. After the release of this notice, on August 5th, the reporter was confirmed by the National Energy Administration. At present, there is no plan for the third round of concession bidding.

Subsidy for Electricity Price Difficulty Guaranteed In the notice, the National Development and Reform Commission clearly pointed out that the on-grid tariff of solar photovoltaic power generation projects was higher than the benchmark on-grid tariff of local de-coalized coal-fired generators, ie, electricity price subsidies, and was still based on the management of renewable energy power generation prices and expenses. The relevant provisions of the "Trial Procedures" (Development and Reform Price [2006] No. 7) shall be resolved through the nationwide collection of renewable energy tariffs.

The industry has long been calling for the benchmark price of photovoltaic Internet access. The National Development and Reform Commission’s notice is comparable to the drought. However, the reporter learned from the interview that whether the policy can be honored as scheduled is still a question mark. For this notice, the relevant departments of the Ministry of Finance and the State Electricity Regulatory Commission all expressed "too sudden". The relevant person of the Ministry of Finance is even more worried about reporters. This policy may not be fulfilled because the additional gap in renewable energy is "not sure enough."

“According to the current regulations, PV tariffs are managed independently and can only be added from renewable energy sources. However, before renewable energy is added, there will be insufficient gaps. After the National Development and Reform Commission releases this policy, the gap will increase. This is a contradiction," said a person from the Ministry of Finance. When a reporter asked about news that there was an increase in renewable energy additions, the person replied: “Before the increase, we actually considered it, but it is not that easy. There is no timetable. As for renewable energy, it involves There is no agreement among various departments and departments. In short, the issue is not resolved.” Finally, the source disclosed: “The National Development and Reform Commission did not communicate this policy with the Ministry of Finance and we did not expect it. Now it seems that this The policy may not be fulfilled."

Or "Overhead" Golden Sun Researcher Wang Sicheng from the National Development and Reform Commission Energy Research Institute said in an interview that the policy was introduced too hastily, and it has had a limited role in promoting the development of the industry. It also counted the possible impact.

First of all, because of the different lighting conditions in different places, 1.15 yuan/degree is only suitable for a few areas with good sunshine conditions in the western part (the horizontal level of annual radiation exceeds 1500 kWh/m2), and the main profit is the large-scale power stations in these areas, and the rest of the country. The area is not sufficiently attractive. "But large-scale power plants are not the focus of China's photovoltaic development because of the need to solve long-distance transmission problems. The mainstream of photovoltaics in China should be distributed energy, and local generation and local consumption are the most effective." Wang Sicheng said.

Secondly, the National Development and Reform Commission notices Article II: The owner's solar photovoltaic power generation project is determined through concession bidding, and its on-grid electricity price is executed at the bid-winning price. The bid winning price must not be higher than the solar photovoltaic power generation benchmark price. Wang Sicheng said that this means that the concession bidding has come to an end. “Because no one is stupid enough to put a high benchmark price on electricity to compete for a lower than the on-grid price of the benchmark. Moreover, this provision is unfair to companies that win the bid for the concession. These successful companies support the country’s franchise. Right bidding, in order to promote the development of the photovoltaic market, as far as possible to reduce the profits, so that the country figured out the cost of photovoltaic power generation, this time the benchmark price introduced but did not take care of the interests of these companies, and objectively caused the 'who acted as vanguard, Whoever sacrifices his own cold reality."

Third, the third article of the notice states: For solar photovoltaic power generation projects that enjoy financial subsidy from the central government, their on-grid power supply shall be executed on the basis of the on-grid electricity price of local benchmarked coal-fired units. In response, Wang Sicheng explained that there are only two solar photovoltaic power generation projects that enjoy subsidies from the central government, namely the Golden Sun demonstration project and the photovoltaic construction project.

Wang Sicheng believes that this clause not only does not have any positive promotion effect, but also may bring about negative impact. The profit point of Golden Sun and Optoelectronics construction project is "user-side grid connection, offsetting grid power, self-use," and offsetting the electricity amount means that the value of photovoltaic electricity is equivalent to the retail electricity price of the grid, and the average electricity price of industrial and commercial use in the eastern provinces and regions is RMB 0.925/kWh is almost three times the price of coal-fired electricity, and it is only profitable to enjoy such a power price project. According to Wang Sicheng, the NDRC's provision was derived from the Golden Sun document, which can be said to have been extracted from the original text of the Golden Sun. However, the Golden Sun document emphasizes that “photovoltaic power is self-proclaimed in principle, and surplus power is purchased according to the national benchmark for on-grid tariffs of local coal-fired units.” The National Development and Reform Commission notices that there is less “available power”, which may lead to The problem of user-side grid connection difficulties between Golden Sun and Opto-electronics construction project is aggravated, because if users are not allowed to connect to the grid to offset the operation of the electricity, but all the photovoltaic power is required to be settled according to the coal-fired electricity price, all projects currently under implementation will be seriously depleted. , which in turn led to the stranding of all projects.

Wang Sicheng believes that the PV grid benchmark price should absorb the experience of wind power benchmark price, partition resources, and implement different electricity prices. “In addition, the interests of the previous photovoltaic project owners should also be taken into account, including the ongoing implementation of national projects such as the Golden Sun demonstration project and photovoltaic buildings. They should be “look forward, look around, and look around”, consider it comprehensively, and adopt a multi-sectoral opinion and carefully introduce it.”