Debate Over Regulations Establishing Wind Power Standards

The China Power Engineering Consulting Group Corporation, who drafted the standards on behalf of the National Energy Administration (NEA), insist that the proposed rules are in accordance with the present technological level of China's wind power producers and will lead to the further development of the industry.

On the other hand, some wind power companies claim that the proposed standards favor the companies that run the country's power grids and will impede the healthy development of the entire industry by unreasonably raising the technical requirements for wind power providers.

This debate reflects the conflict among wind power producers, power grid companies and different governmental branches; the core issues being whether the development of wind power should be promoted or impeded and how its speed and quality should be balanced.

The Struggle for Standards

The original intention of NEA was to regulate the wind power industry by providing scientific standards. However, some wind power companies believe these technical standards are too high and make it difficult for wind power to be connected with power grids; they believe such standards go against China's Renewable Energy Law.

The revised Renewable Energy Law took effect on April 1 this year; it states power grids should sign contracts with renewable energy providers and buy the total amount of the electricity they produce, in return renewable energy providers must help ensure power grid safety. Some wind power companies are afraid that power grid companies will refuse them access to their grids by claiming the wind companies fail to reach the required technological standards. If this occurs, wind power companies will no longer have buyers for their power and will be left with no way to regain their investment.

China's wind power industry has been rapidly expanding since 2004. Its installed capacity has doubled for six successive years and has exceeds 25 million kw, ranking number 2 in the world and making it increasingly urgent to connect wind power to power grids. Statistics show, by the end of 2008, approximately one-third of wind turbines were spinning uselessly.

While the capacity of wind power has been rapidly expanding, standards governing wind power's connection to power grids are lagging behind. In 2005, the Chinese government issued: Technical Regulations on Connecting Wind Power to Power Grids. The regulations were not laws, but guidelines that have now expired having only been effective from 2005 to 2008.

Currently, the China Power Engineering Consulting Group Corporation, the China Electric Power Research Institute and other agencies, on behalf of the National Energy Administration, are revising the regulations.

The original target of the revised regulations, China's Wind Power Technical Standards, was to coordinate the development of both wind power and power grids. But according to insiders, the inclusion of the strict technical requirements actually impede the development of wind power.

Some wind power companies have claimed that some of the standards have gone too far, are too strict and are impossible to achieve. Other standards, though they may be reached, will lead to a dramatic increase in the cost of wind power - reducing investor's profits and lowering wind power's ability to compete with other energy sources.

The Standards' Requirements

For example, the standards require wind power companies to provide accurate forecasts to government departments responsible for power distribution about their power output for the following fifteen minutes to four hours, and a twenty-four hour forecast to power grid companies, both within a 25% margin of error.

But, according to a person with Guohua Energy, even the most advanced weather forecast system can only predict wind patterns for one hour in the future and the margin of error cannot be below 25%.

One contributor to the standards said, by moderately raising the technical requirements, the new standards will lift the competitiveness of China's wind power companies and these standards are within their reach.

Another item of the standards that gives rise to doubt is the requirement that wind power equipment have low voltage traversing ability; the standards have put forward a concrete index to judge this capability. A person with China Wind Power Association estimates that to reach this requirement, wind power companies need to invest another 200,000 yuan in every machine. This function would rarely be used and this problem could be solved after wind power is connected to the power grids.

The function of low voltage traversing ability refers to the capability of wind power equipment to run non-stop within a low voltage range when voltage falls due to malfunction or grid disturbance.

According to a person with China Wind Power Association, currently, the technology and patent of low voltage traversing ability belongs to foreign companies such as GE. Therefore, a raised technical requirement will make Chinese companies more dependent on foreign technologies.

However, the contributor to the standards mentioned above went on to claim that raising technology requirements may help phase out wind power companies with low-level technology, avoid redundant construction and a waste resources, and promote the technological development of China's wind power industry as a whole.

He stated this belief has been echoed by wind power equipment manufacturers.

The different viewpoints and conflicts of interest between power grids and wind power companies have been exposed by the difficulties in making the two connect.

A source with the China Longyuan Power Group said, while the standards set many technical obstacles for wind power companies, they do not place any rigorous restrictions on power grids. Therefore power grids might use the standards to limit wind power companies from being connected to power grids and to set capacity restrictions on wind power companies already connected to grids.

Capacity restriction refers to the requirement that power grids will place upon wind power companies to produce less electricity than usual at a time of low charge, because if a large amount of power is connected to the grids, there will be difficulty readjusting the consumption volume of the power and controlling the electric pressure, worsening the power quality.

Power Grid Attitudes

An executive with Longyuan Power said, some wind power equipment would be forced to stop production if their power was restricted or could not be connected to the grids, wasting wind resources.

According to incomplete statistics, wind power companies suffered a loss of 296 million kilowatt-hours in 2008 because of capacity restrictions. It's predicted this number will exceed 1.5 billion in 2009, accounting for 12% of total power volume produced by wind. If this power were connected to the grids, it would produce a net profit for wind power companies and improve their overall situation.

Some wind power companies attribute the difficulty of connecting to power grids and the capacity restriction to power grids who have monopolized China's electricity market.

Some employees with the power grids have labeled wind power and solar power as "rubbish electricity", saying such random power sources increase the cost of maintaining and running the grids, and the pressure on power operators. Furthermore, despite the existence of the Renewable Energy Law which urges power grids to sign contracts with renewable energy providers, the government has not set a compulsory target for power grid companies' purchase of renewable energy nor has it provided a subsidy for long-distance wind power transmission programs.

In fact, power grids have worked hard to promote the development of connecting wind power to the grids. Shu Yinbiao, vice-general-manager of State Grid, said that State Grid make a great effort to ensure that all wind power is purchased, which requires a large investment such as adopting measures to reduce the production of thermal power which causes an economic loss for the company and is unsafe.

It's also claimed that the power grids, by launching the new Wind Power Technical Standards, intend to, on the one hand, provide technical standards for wind power companies; and on the other hand, make the new energy more suitable for the grids by raising their technological requirements.

The standards were mainly created by the China Power Engineering Consulting Group Corporation which belongs to the State-owned Asset Administration and Supervision Commission under the State Council and has a close business cooperation with the power grids. Another co-author of the standards, China Electric Power Research Institute, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of State Grid. Which is why people believed power grids have greatly influenced the writing of the standards.

But the group who wrote the standards has denied these claims, stating that, as an intermediary agency, it takes the development of the whole industry into consideration and does not speak for a single side.