Nearly half of the projects have not passed the review of electricity price subsidies

Polaris Wind Power Network News: Whether the projects that have not passed the review this time comply with the original planning and scale indicators needs to be further verified. In particular, the "launched" renewable energy projects in 2017 and 2018 are too fast, and it is inevitable that they will involve issues such as approval land use and ecology. Some projects such as unclear rights and responsibilities and affecting ecology have also been promoted in troubled waters.

Since last year, the country has made it clear that it will not be released againRenewable energy subsidyAfter the catalogue, starting this year, enterprises will fill in the electricity price surcharge application for information redemption subsidies through the National Renewable Energy Information Management Platform.

The reporter noticed that the first batch of subsidy list released recently showed that nearly 200 renewable energy projects failed to pass the review. Can these renewable energy projects that have not passed the review still enjoy subsidies? Can the renewable energy subsidy budget be fulfilled this year?

Multiple factors have caused some projects to fail to pass the review

This year, the application for the additional subsidy list for renewable energy electricity price was implemented. According to the review principle of "one batch matures and one batch is released", the list needs to be released in stages. The first batch of subsidy list will be reviewed and released before June 30.

According to the information released by the National Renewable Energy Information Management Center, as of June 17, the review of the renewable energy electricity price surcharge subsidy list application project in 14 provinces and cities, including Tianjin, Inner Mongolia, Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Qinghai, Ningxia and Xinjiang Corps, involved a total of 1,216 renewable energy projects, of which the total scale of the photovoltaic projects approved in the preliminary review reached 20,842.4MW. According to statistics, a total of 685 renewable energy projects have passed the review, 500 projects have failed the review, and 31 projects in Shaanxi Province are still under review.

At present, the review of the renewable energy electricity price surcharge subsidy list items is still being updated.

The reporter noticed that the review failed, mostly because the full capacity grid connection time needs to be further confirmed, supplementary materials, and does not meet the application conditions. For example, there are 8 projects for the first phase of the application for the electricity price supplement list of Tianjin renewable energy, and 13 projects for the second phase of the supplementary materials involved; Jiangsu Province received 120 projects approved by the preliminary review, 51 projects approved, and as many as 69 projects that failed to pass the review, all of these supplementary materials require full capacity grid connection time and compliance with the planning situation.

A person familiar with the matter who did not want to be named told reporters that whether the projects that failed to pass the review comply with the planning and scale indicators needs further verification. In particular, the "launched" renewable energy projects in 2017 and 2018 are too fast, and it is inevitable that they will involve issues such as approval land use and ecology. Some projects such as unclear rights and responsibilities and affecting ecology are also being promoted. "In the projects that supplement the materials, some are excellent renewable energy projects, while others are 'black household' power stations. Their construction does not comply with the plan, so they also come to take advantage of the troubled waters."

Passing the review means that the company's rights confirmation is successful

So, can renewable energy projects with complete material supplements be reviewed again? In the view of an expert from the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, projects that have not entered the first batch of subsidies do not mean being sentenced to "death penalty". Renewable energy projects built in grid-connected according to national regulations should enjoy subsidies. "After the first batch of subsidy list is over, it is very likely to declare the second batch of subsidy list."

Some industry insiders interviewed were pessimistic and believed that even if they entered the first batch of subsidy list, it is still unknown whether they can get subsidy funds in a timely manner. The economic situation this year is relatively severe, and the industrial and commercial operation situation is unpredictable. How many renewable energy can be collected has a large additional variable.

In the view of industry insiders, the background of adopting the electricity price surcharge subsidy list declaration model is that renewable energy projects have "progressed rapidly" in the past two years, while the fiscal gap in renewable energy subsidies is increasing. "So, the review means that the company's rights confirmation is successful, that is, the state recognizes that it owes money. However, in the case of lack of cash flow, it is very likely to cash out subsidies through financial instruments, such as green certificates, and other forms." The above-mentioned industry insider told reporters.

The budget can basically cover incremental projects

The reporter noticed that the "2020 Central Fiscal Budget" released by the Ministry of Finance on June 17 showed that the budget and expenditure for renewable energy electricity price surcharge this year both showed growth to varying degrees. Among them, the revenue budget this year was 88.352 billion yuan, an increase of 1.541 billion yuan from the execution in 2019, an increase of 1.8%; the budget for additional expenditure on renewable energy electricity prices in 2020 was 92.355 billion yuan, an increase of 6.437 billion yuan from the execution in 2019, an increase of 7.5%. Among them, the 2020 wind power generation subsidy budget was 35.685 billion yuan, which was 96.8% of the previous year's implementation; while the solar and biomass power generation subsidy budgets were 42.839 billion yuan and 5.341 billion yuan, respectively, an increase from 2019.

"From the budget perspective, 6.437 billion yuan can basically cover incremental renewable energy projects, but the original subsidy arrears for existing projects may continue." A securities analyst told reporters bluntly, "From the budget data released by the Ministry of Finance, it is not particularly 'friendly' to wind power. The actual amount of subsidies depends on the final accounts of the Ministry of Finance, because from the budget to the final accounts every year, there are great changes."

Another particularly noteworthy is that the electricity used by renewable energy to participate in market-oriented transactions will not be subsidized. The "Notice on Issuing the Management Measures for the Additional Funds for Renewable Energy Electricity Prices" (Caijian [2020] No. 5) clearly states that when wind power and photovoltaic electricity participate in market-oriented transactions, only when the power grid purchase price is higher than the benchmark price of coal-fired power, its electricity has the opportunity to receive subsidies. However, in medium- and long-term transactions, the trading electricity price is often lower than the coal-fired power benchmark price.