China - trade and Investment environment energy

- 為鼓勵社會資本加強對能源設施的投資，國務院昨
日出台《國務院關於創新重點領域投融資機制鼓勵社會投資的指導意見》，提出要推進市政
基礎設施投資運營市場化，建立健全政府和社會資本合作（PPP）機制等多方面內容，焦點
放在生態環保、農業水利、市政設施、交通、能源設施、信息和民用空間設施、社會事業七
大重點領域的投融資機制創新。http://pdf.wenweipo.com/2014/11/27/a20-1127.pdf
- pricing

• http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1899778/coal-fired-power-remains-challenging-business-despite-clearer Beijing’s recent revision of the pricing mechanism for coal-fired power generators’ regulated on-grid selling prices as part of wider energy price reform has made price setting more transparent and predictable, but analysts say operating conditions for generators remains challenging amid weak demand and oversupply. Combined with ongoing liberalisation measures to make electricity prices more market-oriented, rising competition will see the most efficient generators gain market share from weaker ones. “While the new tariff [setting mechanism] provides more clarity and certainty to [coal-fired] power producers, Fitch believes [they] will continue to face challenges with weakened [plant] utilisation hours due to low power consumption growth and the addition of large amounts of thermal and renewable power capacity in the medium term,” said analysts at the rating agency. Mainland China’s power demand grew 0.7 per cent in last year’s first 11 months as the economy continued to shift away from fixed-asset investment-led growth to one driven by consumption.

foreign investment
- 中國自然資源部周四公布，中國將全面開放油氣勘查及開採市場，允許民企、外資企業等資本進入相關領域；只要在中國境內註冊，淨資產不低於三億元人民幣（約三億四千二百萬港元）的內外資公司，均有資格取得油氣礦業權。負責人指新政策將改變過去由國企專營的局面。https://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20200110/00180_015.html

Quota
- http://www.scmp.com/business/article/1920410/beijing-slaps-quotas-regions-non-hydro-renewable-energy-consumption Beijing has imposed long-awaited non-hydro renewable energy quotas on regional governments and the power distributors they own, which will help relieve worsening power grid bottlenecks and boost the sales of wind and solar energy firms.

The policy will also help meet Beijing’s goal for non-fossil fuel to account for at least 15 per cent of mainland China’s total energy consumption by 2020, rising to 20 per cent in 2030, as part of efforts to reduce air pollution. Last year’s ratio was 12 per cent. The quotas aim “to achieve the requirements of the nation’s energy production and consumption revolution” and to promote renewable energy utilisation, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said on Thursday. The quotas for the 31 provinces, autonomous regions and large municipalities range from 5 per cent to 13 per cent, depending on their energy consumption and production structure. They will filter down to the state-owned grid operators, which by law were supposed to absorb all renewable energy produced. However, court challenges to non-compliant monopolies were almost unheard of.

oil
- http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/16/china-oil-imports-idUSL4N0VQ14W20150216 China introduced new regulations on Monday paving the way for smaller refining firms to import crude oil, as it looks to encourage private investment in a sector dominated by big state-owned firms. Under rules posted by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on its website (www.ndrc.gov.cn), domestic refiners will be able to apply for access to imported oil if they meet new technical and environmental standards. Firms can then apply to the Commerce Ministry to import oil. The NDRC said the new measures were aimed at "solving the crude oil supply problems of regional refining enterprises." http://www.scmp.com/business/commodities/article/1715643/china-sets-new-rules-allow-more-refiners-import-oil, hkej17feb15 a16, http://www.ecns.cn/cns-wire/2015/02-16/155251.shtml
- http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/news/20160225/00176_165.html Irons話，內地嘅電力市場仍未開放，無論國際油價升至每桶一百四十幾美元，抑或跌到廿八美元，包括民生及企業用電嘅電費都冇郁過，十分唔合理。佢舉例話，台灣嘅每度電費相當於六、七角人民幣，但係內地超過一元人仔，勁削內地設廠企業競爭力。遲啲佢將向內地有關部門提案爭取減電費。不過咁，香港奉行自由市場經濟，但係油公司都冇緊貼油價下跌而減油價喇，何況內地電力市場仍未開放呢？Irons要努力爭取，唔好輕言放棄吖！
- dependency

• http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/01-13/241517.shtml China's foreign oil dependency level reached 64.4 percent of total demand in 2016, 3.8 percent higher than the previous year－and was expected to rise again in 2017, a leading economics think tank in China said on Thursday.

gas
- http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2124758/chinese-energy-firms-asked-cut-gas-supply-some China’s state planning agency on Monday said it had asked national energy majors CNPC, Sinopec and CNOOC to cut natural gas supplies to some industries by about 15 million cubic metres per day.The move comes amid a shortage of gas in the world’s second-largest economy after an unprecedented campaign to help clean up the environment by switching millions of households to natural gas from coal for heating.

shale gas
- http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2015-11/16/content_22464460.htm China is poised to open up shale gas exploration even as the appetite for producing the fuelebbs amid a global glut and a plunge in energy prices. China will cut subsidies for shale gas developers from 2016 to 2020 even as the countryencourages explorers to produce more natural gas as a replacement for coal. Shale gas subsidies will be reduced to 0.3 yuan ($0.05) per cubic meter from 2016 to 2018 andfurther to 0.2 yuan from 2019 to 2020 from 0.4 yuan currently, China's finance ministry said inApril.
- 中国《油气体制改革意见》出台后，首个页岩气区块探矿权拍卖于18日正式落槌，这同时是中国油气领域首次探矿权拍卖。经过4家单位、200馀轮激烈竞买叫价，贵州省产业投资集团有限责任公司最终以12.9亿元（人民币，下同）竞得贵州省正安页岩气勘查区块探矿权，期限3年。专家称，该勘查区块周边油气储量达千亿立方米。国土资源部新闻发言人、地质勘查司司长于海峰表示，拍卖是竞争方式一种，也是试点一种，目标就是要让社会主体进入到勘查市场里来。http://paper.takungpao.com/resfile/PDF/20170827/PDF/a8_screen.pdf

biomethane
- http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201906/05/WS5cf7252ca31051914270120c.html Biomethane, the purified biogas derived from the decomposition of organic matter, will see accelerated development in China, due to refinement of government regulations and increased policy support, industry experts said. China's national standards for biomethane quality, which will probably have clear requirements on biomethane production, storage, transportation, and injection into the natural gas network, are currently under review, and set to be released within a few weeks, according to a source close to the matter who did not want to be identified. In February, China's National Energy Administration issued a draft guideline on the development of biomethane, to "increase natural gas supply, protect the environment, and promote the emerging industry." According to the guideline, annual biomethane output in China would be more than 2 billion cubic meters by 2020, more than 15 bcm by 2025, and 30 bcm by 2030. Apart from releasing a series of documents to promote the development of biogas and biomethane since 2015, Chinese authorities have also released a number of documents stressing the importance of environmental protection and rural development, which experts said will also help boost the development of biomethane.

renewables

• http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1875546/chinas-wind-and-solar-firms-catch-chill-tariff-cut-proposal Beijing’s proposal to cut renewable power tariffs in the next five years saw wind and solar power sector shares pummelled in recent days, but some industry executives and analysts say the cuts are not set in stone and the government still needs to incentivise projects development to meet its environment goals. Policy makers will likely take into account technological advancement and interest rate movements when making final decisions on tariff adjustments, they said. “Internationally, wind and solar tariffs always go downward as technology improvement leads to better energy conversion efficiency and reduce the cost of power production,” Joe Zhou Xiaodong, an investor relations vice-general manager at Concord New Energy Group, a Hong Kong-listed wind and solar farms developer on the mainland, told the South China Morning Post. “But the proposed tariff cuts seem to be on the high side toward the later years and the government appears to be quite bold on the target for cost reduction.”

electricity

• http://paper.takungpao.com/resfile/PDF/20150115/PDF/b3_screen.pdf 沉寂了十二年之後，內地電力行業邁入改革破題之年。內媒昨日引述消息稱， 「新電改方案」 細則出爐，只待最終批覆後擇機發布。其中，包括民資背景的獨立售電企業等五類主體將獲得售電牌照，就此進入萬億元（人民幣，下同）級別市場。市場人士認為，具備成本、價格優勢的水電類上市公司最為受益改革紅利，同時擁有電改及央企改革雙重概念的國資電企也值得關注。singtao 15jan15 b10
• http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2015-03/26/content_19918153.htm China, the world's largest electricity consumer, is exploring the possibility of allowing private and foreign capital in some power-related businesses like sales and distribution as part of its ongoing reforms for the sector, a top planning official said on Wednesday. The State Council had issued a reform plan, Opinions Regarding the Deepening of the Power Sector's Reform, in mid-March, that among other things sought to encourage competition in the sector and called for a revamp of the existing pricing system. The plan allows gradual infusion of social capital in the power sales and newly added distribution business, while the electricity transmission business will remain with power grid companies. A final decision on whether the power distribution and sales business will be opened up for foreign investment will be based on the "negative list" that is under preparation, Wang Qiang, a senior official of the department of economic system reform under the NDRC, told China Daily. A negative list refers to specific areas where foreign capital is restricted. Foreign capital infusion is allowed in all the fields that are not on the negative list and the same also does not need approval from the government.
• http://pdf.wenweipo.com/2015/12/01/a21-1201.pdf 內地電力體制改革六大核心配套文件於昨 日正式印發，標誌着新一輪電力改革全面 落地。未來將盡快在全國範圍內實施輸配 電價改革，並向民間資本開放售電業務， 推進建設跨省跨區電力交易中心。其中售 電業務開放引人關注，有機構估算，售電 業務將是收入達到萬億人民幣級別的大市 場，重慶、廣東將作為試點，率先實施改 革。 此次發佈的配套文件涉及輸配電價改 革、電力市場建設、電力交易機構組建、 放開發用電計劃、售電側改革和規範燃煤 自備電廠等六大方面。業界認為，電力體 制改革由此進入實質實施階段。 培育售電側市場競爭主體 售電業務的開放是本輪電力改革中外界 關注的焦點。此次發佈的《關於推進售電 側改革的實施意見》文件指出，向社會資 本開放售電業務，多途徑培育售電側市場 競爭主體。

battery
- cobalt

• https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-gem-glencore-cobalt/glencore-signs-massive-cobalt-sale-deal-with-chinas-gem-idUKKCN1GQ3AJ Glencore Plc (GLEN.L), the world’s biggest producer of cobalt, has agreed to sell around a third of its cobalt production over the next three years to Chinese battery recycler GEM Co Ltd (002340.SZ), according to a filing by GEM on Wednesday.

wind

• http://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1624056/beijing-warned-not-cut-wind-power-tariffs

solar
- http://www.ecns.cn/business/2016/12-22/238643.shtml The Chinese government and the New Development Bank signed a loan agreement on Wednesday, approving the provision of 525 million-yuan ($75.5 million) sovereign project loan for the bank's first project in China, the Shanghai Lingang Distributed Solar Power Project. The agreement was signed by Shi Yaobin, vice-minister of finance and K.V. Kamath, the president of the NDB.
- https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/renewable/chinas-hebei-province-to-remove-some-solar-subsidies-next-year/64205472 China's northern Hebei province will phase out subsidies paid to some newly-built solar powerplants from January next year, an official from the local pricing bureau told Reuters on Thursday, part of a state move to cut government support for the industry.

• https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-solar/china-solar-firms-urge-govt-to-rethink-capacity-cap-subsidy-cut-letter-idUSKCN1J30G6 Chinese solar panel makers have urged Beijing to delay surprise subsidy cuts and relax a cap on new projects, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters, protesting that the policy will damage a sector already struggling financially. In a letter first sent to Xinhua news agency this week, executives from 11 Chinese solar firms said the surprise move to withdraw support, announced on June 1, had come far too soon. They said the sector had racked up huge debts to ensure it could compete with traditional power generators, and still needed another three to five years of government backing. The policy shift by China’s state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), sent solar stocks into freefall, prompting analysts to lower forecasts for global installations this year amid expectations that a glut of excess panels would send prices tumbling.Immediate implementation of the policy would affect plants under construction, according to the letter from executives at firms like Sungrow Power and Canadian Solar, calling for “a certain grace period” for those that need it.

Nuclear

- http://paper.takungpao.com/resfile/PDF/20160311/PDF/a8_screen.pdf 10日，十二屆全國人大四次會議就“人大立法工作”召開專題記者會，全國人大四位負責人在會上透露，核安全立法、土地污染防治法、電子商務法已經列入人大立法規劃，此外，與司法改革關係密切的法院組織法、檢察院組織法以及法官法、檢察官法的修改工作有望于明年完成。\大公報記者張寶峰北京報道 　在2014年第三屆核安全峰會上，國家主席習近平曾明確提出，要堅持理性、協調、並進的核安全觀，紮實推進核安全工作機制化、法制化。對於核安全立法的進展情況，全國人大環資委副主任委員袁駟透露，目前核安全立法已納入立法規劃，由環資委負責提請審議，現正在進程中。　袁駟還表示，解決環境污染問題的有效途徑之一即調整能源結構，而核能是一個選項。但歷史上不幸發生的幾次核事故，讓人們對核能利用心存恐懼。要處理這樣的矛盾，就需要制定核安全法，提升法律效力，依法保障核安全，消除或者減少人們的顧慮。
- https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/2165313/china-drafts-nuclear-law-back-overseas-push-and-target-leading China will provide more support for its nuclear firms to go overseas and strengthen their position on the international market, according to new draft legislation submitted to the industry for consultation on Friday.“The state will encourage and support the positive and orderly participation of its enterprises in the international market” and promote the export of nuclear equipment, fuel and services, the draft Atomic Energy Law says. China aims to bring its total installed nuclear capacity to 58 gigawatts by the end of 2020, up from 37GW at the end of June this year, but it also has ambitions to dominate the global market and has created a unified third-generation reactor brand known as the Hualong One to sell overseas. China has already signed a series of preliminary agreements with countries including Brazil, Argentina, Uganda and Cambodia and it is undergoing a technical approval process for the Hualong One in Britain.The government also published new guidelines last month aimed at promoting its own technical standards in foreign markets and playing a “leading role” in the global nuclear technology standardisation process.
- 國家能源局周四正式核准興建四台核電機組，包括隸屬「中國核工業集團」的福建漳州核電一期項目一號、二號機組，以及「中國廣核集團」位於廣東惠州太平嶺核電一期項目一號、二號機組。四台核電機組未來有意融合中國研發的「華龍一號」技術建造，核機組已通過安全評審開工建設。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20190201/00178_010.html

- 綜合中新社、澎湃新 聞報道： 「六穩」 「六保」 大背景下， 中國重啟核電審批。國務院總理李克強9 月2日主持召開國務院常務會議，會議核 准海南昌江核電二期工程和浙江三澳核 電一期工程。http://paper.takungpao.com/resfile/PDF/20200903/PDF/a10_screen.pdf


氫能
- 中國氫能聯盟昨天發佈的中國首個氫能源及燃料電池產業白皮書指出，預計到2030年，中國氫氣需求量將達到3,500萬噸，在終端能源體系中佔比5%。白皮書倡議氫能產業重點通過京津冀、長江流域和大灣區先行先試。白皮書稱，中國已是世界上最大的製氫國，初步評估現有工業製氫產能為2,500萬噸/年，氫能在能源、交通、工業、建築等領域具有廣闊的應用前景。尤其以燃料電池為代表的交通領域是氫能初期應用的突破口與主要市場。http://pdf.wenweipo.com/2019/06/27/b07-0627.pdf
- 國家新能源綜合利用示範區廣州開發區近日出台 「 氫能10條」 ，在全國率先實現氫能源全產業鏈扶持。廣 州試圖通過引進頂尖研發團隊，攻克關鍵零部件和核心 生產環節，構建涵蓋燃料電池、電堆、膜電極與質子交 換膜、車載氫系統與加氫設備以及整車製造的全產業鏈 ，走出一條發展培育氫能產業差異化道路。有從事氫能 的企業透露，尋求合作企業呈幾何增長。相關政策也吸引了境內外資本的湧入。8 月底，由香港資本聯合國企、民企成立的灣區 氫谷宣布動工，打造氫能源產業集聚中心、研 發設計中心、檢測中心、國際交流中心。同時 動工的黃埔氫能創新創業中心，它將引入中德 氫能源創新研究院等一批高精尖氫能龍頭企業 和團隊。 廣州雄韜氫恆科技有限公司同樣是廣州開 發區氫能核心零部件生產企業，自主研發出被 稱作氫能源發動機核心的電池電堆。其在此基 礎上生產的發動機功率已經達到60千瓦，兩倍 於目前主流氫能發動機。  http://paper.takungpao.com/resfile/PDF/20190916/PDF/a17_screen.pdf
- 廣州市發改委昨天發布《廣州市氫能產業發展規劃（2019-2030）》，為內地首次將氫能引入能源系統。根據規劃，到2022年，環衞領域新增、更換車輛中燃料電池汽車佔比不低於10%；公交、倉儲及港口等領域燃料電池汽車不低於3,000輛；建設綠色氫能電綜合調峰示範應用電站1座等。2025年初步實現氫能規模化應用，培育100家氫能及燃料電池相關企業，實現產值預計600億元人民幣以上。另外，廣州將重點建設黃埔氫能產業創新核心區、南沙氫能產業樞紐、番禺乘用車製造及分布式發電研發基地、從化商用車生產基地和白雲專用車生產基地。並成立近30人組成的氫能專家委員會，建立頂級智庫團隊。http://pdf.wenweipo.com/2020/07/31/b04-0731.pdf

biofuel
- https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3045270/china-suspends-national-roll-out-ethanol-mandate-which-will China has suspended its plan to implement a nationwide petrol blend containing 10 per cent ethanol this year, three sources briefed on the matter said, after a sharp decline in the country’s corn stocks and limited production capacity of the biofuel.Beijing announced in September 2017 that the national petrol supply would contain 10 per cent ethanol from 2020, part of a broad reform of its corn industry that at the time was suffering from a huge surplus.But at a meeting in late December with ethanol producers and oil majors, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said it would be halting the roll-out of ethanol-gasoline supplies beyond the current handful of provinces that have already implemented full or partial blends, according to two of the three sources briefed on the meeting.Beijing’s mandate – known as the E10 target – was conceived as a way to use the country’s huge state corn supply and reduce pollution in the world’s largest car market by using the cleaner-burning fuel.The reversal is a heavy blow to domestic producers that have built new plants, as well as biofuel exporters, including the United States and Brazil, which were looking to benefit from growing Chinese demand.The United States exported about 20 per cent of its fuel ethanol to China in 2016, trade worth about US$300 million that year. American shipments have since plunged to a trickle. Beijing raised import duties on ethanol in 2017 to 30 per cent and then added trade war tariffs on US cargoes twice during 2018, amounting to another 40 per cent.China was expected to sharply increase imports of US ethanol under the recently announced phase trade deal, but is now unlikely to require large ethanol supplies without the mandate.
- china daily 10jan2020 "powering a cleaner, brighter future with biogas"