China mulls amendment to Law on Renewable Energy

China's top legislature on Monday began deliberating a draft amendment to the Law on Renewable Energy that would strengthen the management of renewable energy development and construction.

The draft was submitted for its first reading at the 25th session of the 14th National People's Congress Standing Committee, which runs from Monday to Friday this week.

Developing renewable energy is a key task for improving energy structure, ensuring energy security, building a strong energy nation and advancing ecological civilization.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, China has made major achievements and undergone historic transformation in renewable energy development, establishing the world's largest and fastest-growing renewable energy system.

The revised draft consists of 10 chapters and 76 articles. Major amendments include specifying the strengthening of Party leadership, improving legislative purposes and related requirements, enhancing resource surveys and development planning, and reinforcing management of renewable energy development and construction.

These amendments also cover bolstering renewable energy production and transmission management, improving market trading and pricing mechanisms, promoting consumption, advancing technological innovation and industrial development, strengthening safeguards and supervision, and refining legal liabilities.

The amendments also stipulate the implementation of the green electricity certificate system for renewable energy. China introduced the green electricity certificate system as a pilot program in 2017. In December 2023, China's National Energy Administration issued an initial batch of certificates.

Since the beginning of the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), with rapid progress in building a unified national power market, the participation of new energy sources such as wind and solar power has accelerated, with more than half of new energy electricity now priced through the market.

Currently, China's power market is operating soundly. From January to September this year, market-traded electricity volume steadily increased, reaching 5,853.6 billion kilowatt-hours, up 18.9% year on year.