Regulatory Challenges of Renewable Energy Integration in China

To meet the policy agenda of establishing an environmentally and climate-friendly energy system, several supporting mechanisms have been introduced under China’s Renewable Energy Law. A key feature of these mechanisms has been increased regulation and enforcement to ensure priority access of renewable energy to the grid, in pursuit of the goals to increase renewable share to 25% by 2030 and attain carbon neutrality by 2060. However, usage of electricity generated from renewables in China has been significantly curtailed, as such electricity is not adequately dispatched by grid operators. To address this, the electricity sector authorities have implemented several regulatory measures to facilitate renewable energy integration. In this episode, Dr Hao Zhang discusses these regulatory measures and their implementation. Dr Zhang is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he is the director of the LLM Programme in Energy and Environmental Law.