For more blue skies

In recent years, due to fast economic growth, China's energy consumption and pollutant emissions have also been soaring, having an adverse impact on the environment. Since January, hazy days have been frequent in cities like Beijing, with sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide affecting the concentration of fine particulates (PM 2.5) in the air. According to the Chinese Government's plan, by 2017 the PM 2.5 levels in key areas of the country will drop by 15-25 percent.

Long-term needs

From May to June, the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress dispatched inspectors to examine the implementation of the Renewable Energy Law. A report by the inspectors released in August says renewable energy industries have become a new engine of growth for the Chinese economy. In the past five years, half of all spending in power generation hardware went to renewable energy. In 2012, investments in renewable energy hardware totaled 400 billion yuan ($65.36 billion).

However, the report also warns of problems in the development of China's renewable energy industries. Although the scale of China's renewable energy manufacturing is big, there are still no clear market access standards and technical norms. Blind construction in the wind and solar power industries has created surplus capacity and caused prices to fall dramatically, affecting the overall development of the industries. Some industries are weak in their core competitiveness and have fallen further behind their counterparts in developed countries. As a result, these industries have had to import a lot of foreign parts, even during times of surplus capacity.

Meanwhile, the country's input into basic research on renewable energy development is inadequate and the cost at developing and utilizing renewable energy is high, impeding possibility for widespread use.

Meng thinks raising renewable energy surcharges will make up for the fund shortage. However, the subsidy can only be a temporary solution to developing clean energy.

What impact would a surcharge increase from 0.008 yuan to 0.015 yuan per kWh have on the fund? China Credit Rating Co Ltd has crunched the numbers. Even if the surcharge is raised starting Sept 25, there will still be a funding gap of 3 billion yuan ($490.34 million) for the remainder of the year. It is estimated that in 2014 a total of 70 billion yuan ($11.44 billion) of surcharges will be collected, 35 billion yuan ($5.72 billion) higher than before and enough to satisfy the subsidy demand. But in 2015, the installed capacity of wind power is expected to reach 100 gW, solar power 35 gW and biomass energy 13 gW. With soaring power generation, the subsidies for the three energy sources will total 74.7 billion yuan ($12.21 billion), but the collected surcharge will again be unable to satisfy the demand for subsidies.

The China Credit Rating report says the government could further raise the renewable energy surcharge, but this should not be the only method used to develop renewable energy in China. Renewable energy producers should reduce the construction costs of their power plants in order to align prices closer to those of thermal energy. This way, the development of renewable energies can be sustained.