Notice of the National Development and Reform Commission on Perfecting the Policy of On-grid Electricity Pricing for Wind Power Generation

Development and Reform Price [2009] No. 1906

The development and reform commissions and price bureaus of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government:

In order to standardize wind power price management and promote the healthy and sustainable development of the wind power industry, in accordance with the “Renewable Energy Law of the People's Republic of China”, it was decided to further improve the “Trial Measures for the Management of Renewable Energy Power Generation Prices and Expenses” issued by the Committee of the People's Republic of China (Price Reforms [ 2006] No. 7) relevant regulations. The relevant matters are hereby notified as follows:

I. Regulate wind power price management

(1) The sub-resources area shall establish on-grid benchmark on-grid tariffs for onshore wind power. According to the conditions of wind energy resources and construction conditions, it is decided to divide the country into four types of wind energy resource zones and formulate wind power benchmarking on-grid tariffs accordingly. Specific standards are shown in the annex.

In the future, new land-based wind power projects will be built, including the tide-water beach area above the multi-year average tide and high-elevation line in the coastal areas and island areas with fixed residents, and the wind power benchmark on-grid price in the wind energy resource zone will be uniformly implemented. The same wind farm across the borders of provinces and regions shall, in principle, implement the same on-grid tariff, and the price standard shall be implemented on the basis of a higher wind power benchmark on-grid tariff.

(2) The on-grid tariffs for offshore wind projects will be formulated separately by the competent pricing department of the State Council according to the construction process.

(3) Wind power projects approved by provincial investment and energy authorities shall be filed with the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration.

Second, continue to implement the wind power price sharing system

The part of wind power on-grid price that is within the on-grid tariff of local benchmarking coal-fired units shall be borne by the local provincial power grid; the higher part will be solved through the additional assessment of renewable energy prices levied by the whole country. After adjusting the on-grid tariff of the coal-fired unit, the portion of the on-grid electricity price charged by the local grid should be adjusted accordingly.

Third, the relevant requirements

(a) The above provisions shall be implemented as of August 1, 2009. For wind power projects that were approved before August 1, 2009, on-grid tariffs are still subject to the original regulations.

(2) Each wind power generation enterprise and power grid enterprise must truly and completely record and save the data on the amount of electricity traded, the price and the subsidy amount of the wind power project online, and accept the supervision and inspection of relevant departments. The competent price departments at all levels shall strengthen supervision over the implementation of wind power on-grid tariffs and the subsidy settlement of electricity price supplements to ensure that the on-grid tariff policies for wind power are put into place.

Attachment: National benchmark for wind power generation

National Development and Reform Commission

July 20, 2009