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China is vast, abundant and particularly plentiful in energy sources, due to which it has obtained remarkable achievements on economy. However, its energy structure is too simple to support the sustainable development of economy as coal still contributes to the majority of energy consumption in China. As a consequence, Renewable Energy Law was enacted in 2005, and Chinese government announced a series of policies to boom renewable energy industry. Subsidy policy is one of the major forms of these policies. This paper aims to present these subsidy policies and to analyze their effects according to relative data in energy industry 2005–2013, to find out the deficiencies and enlighten possible policy improvements. The original intentions and abstracts of 5 different levels of subsidy related policies are summarized, and the effects in reality are attentively analyzed. It can be concluded that subsidy policies have different short-term effect on different renewable energies, and they all show some negative effect to a certain extent. 6 core problems are summarized in this paper, and remedy strategies are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Influenced by the international environment, price of photovoltaic (PV) products has continued to drop in recent years. The production enthusiasm of manufacturers was affected, and the market was in depression at once. To realize the expansion of domestic market, China has implemented many incentives since early 2009. This paper reviews the present status and development trend of the Chinese PV industry. It focuses on the turning point problem and draws the conclusions: First, there are still some obstacles to overcome, the key ones are the too low PV product price, industry overcapacity, unbalanced industrial demand and supply, cutbacks in foreign PV market and uncompetitive technologies. Second, the turning point of PV industry in China will come in the future if the problems in PV industry can be solved and the large-scale of the industry can be achieved. Third, the Chinese government is gradually clearing up the obstacles of the development of PV industry, and the turning point is on the way, maybe not later than 2020. At the end of the paper, suggestions are offered as references for the government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, there is no specific legal basis for the development and utilisation of marine renewable energy, nor legal protection for the developers in China. The consequence is that the Chinese Government is unable to provide institutional support for the substantive development of marine renewable energy, resulting in slow development of China's marine energy industry. This paper provides an institutional framework for the establishment of relevant laws in China and legislative proposals in legal perspective, for the better development of marine renewable energy. The Chinese Government should optimise the administrative management system, strengthen financial regulation such as tax and emphasise sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the most populous provinces in China, Sichuan is also the most important regions for ecology protection and rural poverty alleviation in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. The rural energy industry of Sichuan Province has a national ecological and political significance for reducing excessive utilization for fossil fuels, protecting ecosystem, fostering equal development for urban-rural economy. However, this industry of Sichuan remains to be deteriorated by multiple risks. Hitherto, risk management research on rural energy industry is rather limited. Therefore, according to the fault tree analysis and catastrophe model, this study has implemented a complete and comprehensive risk management procedure on rural energy industry of Sichuan Province based on data of 31 provinces ranging from 2008 to 2012 in China. Based on the fault tree analysis for risk identification, four categories of risks have been revealed: financial risks, service networks risks, energy provision risks as well as enterprises risks. Furthermore, 13 risk indicators have been identified because they have imposed negative impacts upon rural energy industry in Sichuan to a large extent. The catastrophe model for risk evaluation has presented that the risk value of Sichuan rural energy industry (A) reaches the highest risk level. Simultaneously, financial risks (M1), energy provision risks (M3), enterprises risks (M4) have also been ranked as the highest risk grade. The result of risk response indicates that X9 (poor construction for wind energy provision projects), X13 (low output values for energy-saving stoves and kangs production enterprises), M4 (enterprises risks) have the priorities for risk response. This paper suggests that it is urgent and paramount to establish an exclusive risk supervising center which can integrate government ministries, financial agencies, universities and research institutions, non-government organizations via joint participation and interactive communication in risk identification, risk evaluation, risk response as well as risk supervising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to achieve the large-scale, long-distance and high-efficiency trans-regional electricity transmission, it is of significance to construct a strong and national smart grid with ultra-high voltage (UHV) transmission system as its backbone and the coordinated development of power grids at all levels, which will enhance the resources allocation capacity of grid, promote the large-scale integration into grid of renewable energy, and further mitigate the power shortage in eastern and southern China. This paper starts with the analysis of the regional grids' supply and demand situation in China, and then analyzes the development status and existing issues of China's trans-regional electricity transmission. Finally, strategies and recommendations are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of shale gas resources is expected to play an important role in China's projected transition to a low-carbon energy future. The question arises whether the availability of water could limit this development. The paper considers a range of scenarios to define the demand for water needed to accommodate China's projected shale gas production through 2020. Based on data from the gas field at Fuling, the first large-scale shale gas field in China, it is concluded that the water intensity for shale gas development in China (water demand per unit lateral length) is likely to exceed that in the US by about 50%. Fuling field would require a total of 39.9–132.9 Mm 3 of water to achieve full development of its shale gas, with well spacing assumed to vary between 300 and 1000 m. To achieve the 2020 production goal set by Sinopec, the key Chinese developer, water consumption is projected to peak at 7.22 Mm 3 in 2018. Maximum water consumption would account for 1% and 3%, respectively, of the available water resource and annual water use in the Fuling district. To achieve China's nationwide shale gas production goal set for 2020, water consumption is projected to peak at 15.03 Mm 3 in 2019 in a high-use scenario. It is concluded that supplies of water are adequate to meet demand in Fuling and most projected shale plays in China, with the exception of localized regions in the Tarim and Jungger Basins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small hydropower is a green and renewable energy resource. China has very rich small hydropower resources with a total technically utilizable installed capacity of 128 gigawatts (GW). Developing small hydropower is of great importance to speed up the economic growth of rural areas and alleviate the environmental pollution in China in the 21st century. This paper provides a survey of small hydropower exploitation in China. Over the last six decades, China’s small hydropower has developed rapidly. The installed capacity of small hydropower exceeds 59.24 GW at the present time. Fifteen large-scale small hydropower bases have been completed, and more bases are still under construction. The small hydropower for fuel project has been in operation. It not only provides cooking fuel for peasants, but also protects the eco-logical environment. The rural electrification construction based on small hydropower has lasted for 25 years, and 412 counties had realized rural electrification by 2010. The reasonable exploitation of small hydropower will accelerate the harmonic development of resources and the environment in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reform of China’s power industry has lasted for decades, while the implementation of demand side management (DSM) in China is still in its infancy. In this paper, we present a comprehensive study of the DSM and Demand Response (DR) programs in China under the context of China’s power industry reform. We first present a brief introduction of the background, including the socio economic status and geographical location of China, the energy policy of China, China’s power industry, the smart grids and microgrid in China, and the reform of China’s power industry. Then, based on the introduction of DSM and the analysis of DSM practices in some countries, we discuss the development status of DSM and the reform of electricity pricing in China. Finally, the main challenges in five aspects for the future development of DSM programs in China are proposed and discussed. These challenges include customer understanding and participation, advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and information and communication technology (ICT), pricing mechanisms and optimal scheduling, big data analytics based decision support, as well as government regulations and market policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to ease environment pressure and alleviate the scarce problem of energy, Chinese government has begun to exploit and develop shale gas (SG) since 2009. However, the formation of competitive market is bristled with difficulties, due to its infancy, imperfect and lack of standardization. This paper firstly analyzes the status quo of technology, policy, cost, and competition of SG industry in China. Then a system dynamics (SD) model is built to show various trends of Chinese SG industry under different scenarios, which shows that technology, policy and cost all have effects on competitiveness. At last, the simulations reveal that the number of competitors in Chinese SG industry will arrive at its peak from 2019 to 2020. The corresponding recommendations have been presented: Chinese government should pay more attention on the perfection of laws and regulations of SG industry. And competitors should focus on increasing R&D investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite reforms, China still largely applies the cost plus pricing mechanism for the energy sector. Government administrative energy pricing leads to energy price distortions, which could result in not only the excessive and wasteful energy consumption, but also environmental deterioration, thereby undermining energy conservation and emission abatement. Using fossil-fuel subsidies as a proxy for the level of energy price distortions, this paper estimates the subsidy of 22 Chinese departments during the period 2006–2010, and adopts the price-gap approach to analyze the impacts of subsidy removal on energy consumption and CO 2 emissions for the various sectors and energy types. The results demonstrate that removing energy subsidies would reduce energy consumption and emissions by 3.77% and 2.85%, respectively, but the effects vary across sectors. The transport, storage and post sector and the electricity, gas and water supply sector are much more affected by energy subsidies removal than other sectors. With respect to energy types, fuel oil and natural gas are sensitive to subsidies, indicating the magnitude of their consumption. This suggests that removing subsidies on these fuel types could significantly reduce CO 2 emissions. Finally, we comprehensively discuss relevant policy issues on energy price formation reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, the energy structure with coal is given priority to in China. This situation would not change in a short time which results in massive CO 2 emissions and increased pressure to natural environment. Carbon capture and storage technology (known as CCS) is a carbon abatement technology that separates CO 2 from industrial production or energy conversion, transports to the storage site after compression, and injects to the deep underground to make long-term isolation from the atmosphere. This technology achieves zero emission during fossil energy extraction and conversion, so the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) regarded it as one of the effective methods reducing greenhouse gas emissions in 2005. First, based on the development status of CCS in China, in terms of policies, technology research and CCS projects are described. SWOT is an analysis method that analyses objects all-around from four main aspects of strength, weakness, opportunity and threat. By SWOT, this paper focuses on analyzing the development environment currently in order to find the main stimulatives and obstacles and confirm the feasibility of CCS development in China. Finally, recommendations are proposed addressing the problems and obstacles. The results show that CCS is an effective way to reduce future emissions in China, as with the huge market, and the general support by Chinese government and green groups. However, relevant departments should strengthen economic and policy support at the same time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing biogas capacity is a key pillar in China’s rural sustainable development program. The very dynamic transition of the rural socio-economic platform on which the current biogas development strategy has been based will require significant adjustments in material, technology and supply. The changes of socio-economic status, the problems of resent state and prospects of rural biogas development in China, including fermentation material, fermentation technology, development model and comprehensive utilization of biogas, are discussed in this paper. The results of our analysis indicated the full use of straw as a raw material will be the direction of biogas development in China. Dry methane fermentation will become an important method in the large scale production of biogas from agricultural wastes. The central supply model is the future biogas development model in rural China. It is with broad market and great potential to produce commercial fertilizer from biogas residue. Using biogas to generate electricity has become a new and efficient way to use biogas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind power industry has experienced swift development and gradually moved towards maturity in China. However some hiding issues have appeared and threatened its sustainable development. In this paper, we employ the supply chain framework to present a thorough and comprehensive review on China׳s wind power industry. First we identify key stakeholders along the supply chain and discuss their concerns. Then we summarize the evolution of related policies in both upstream and downstream of the supply chain. The concerns of stakeholders and the existing policies will help understand the progress and challenges of the industry in China. We find that inability of independent technique innovation, unordered and unbalanced pattern of wind farm development, de-motivation of power grid companies, incompatible technical codes of power grid operation, and neglected demand response are among the key issues. Policy recommendations are proposed to address these problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the research is to study consumers' attitudes towards biodiesel implementation in China. In the paper, authors analyzed the future trends of diesel demand and revealed the prospects of biodiesel in China. And a comprehensive survey has been conducted for 226 private diesel vehicle owners (drivers) in Beijing. The questionnaire survey method is used to collect information, including respondents' viewpoints on fuels selection, biodiesel quality, biodiesel price and related policies. Furthermore, authors applied Structured Equation Modeling (SEM) to analyze the collected data. The results indicate that the most important factor affecting consumers' selection of biodiesel is price. Other significant factors are policy, government incentives and biodiesel quality. Besides, the results also showed that policy and government incentives could affect the price and quality of biodiesel. These results give rise to serious consideration about consumers' preference for and awareness of biodiesel. The research findings will help government and corporations to understand the consumer's energy consumption behaviors and improve the further implementation for biodiesel in Beijing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National climate targets must be decomposed into key areas to guide mitigation actions. This paper presents a comparative study of China's low-carbon transition pathways at the sectoral level under the nationally determined contribution (NDC) and 2 °C targets, using the energy system model and detailed sectoral information. The results show that each sector plays different roles in terms of emission trends, mitigation potentials, technology roadmaps, investment requirements, and mitigation costs. The power sector is expected to contribute around 50% of the total mitigation. The industry sector has better cost-effective performance, with high mitigation potential and low investment requirement. By contrast, the transport and power sectors account for around 90% of total investment demand. The building and transport sectors have substantial mitigation opportunities that can be realized through technologies with negative mitigation costs. Conversely, the industry sector faces challenges in promoting carbon capture and storage, which has the highest mitigation cost. Compared with the sectoral transition pathways under the NDC target, the 2 °C scenario requires a rapid near-term decarbonization of the power sector and additional emission reductions in end-use sectors. This decarbonization is possible through comprehensive deployment of advanced low-carbon technologies as well as measures that increase investments in low-carbon infrastructure and decrease investments in fossil fuel-based technologies in the power and transport sectors. Therefore, it is important to thoroughly understand the sectoral transition pathways under different climate targets in order to coordinate inter-sectoral actions and resources in a cost-effective manner. • A quantitative study of sectoral low-carbon transition pathways in China was done. • Sectors perform differently in emissions trends, mitigation potential, and cost. • The performance of each sector changes over time and based on climate targets. • Different climate targets imply different technology roadmaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]