[Snapshot]
1. Renewable energy mismatch in China has raised concerns over the coastal region’s carbon neutrality progress, offshore wind could be one solution.
2. Although the dramatic surge of offshore wind in 2021 was mostly due to the cancellation of national subsidies, there are several reasons why offshore wind power growth could stay strong despite the removal of subsidies. Policy signals and great potential wind resources on the sea are major reasons.
3. Challenges also exist. Costs remain the main barrier. High construction costs in vessel renting and installation of submarine cables and high operation and maintenance costs are likely to continue in the short term.
4. In the middle of every challenge lies great opportunities. New technologies such as floating offshore wind and synergies like the offshore wind with oil or hydrogen production are at the forefront.

Snapshot:
1. To further boost renewable energy development and reduce carbon emissions, China’s green electricity pilot trade program was launched in Sep. 2021 by the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic regulator.
2.Previously under the conventional mid-to-long term trading scheme, many corporate consumers faced barriers in purchasing green electricity due to 1) the lack of a specific program for green electricity procurement, and 2) a potential to lead to double-counting.
3.With the launch of the pilot trade, a specific program was introduced between RE generators and corporate consumers to increase the accessibility of green electricity procurement. In addition, “bundled electricity + attribute certificate” was also introduced to avoid the potential risk of double-counting that occurred in the conventional mid-to-long term trading scheme.
4.However, there are a number of challenges that still need to be overcome, especially from the corporate consumer’s perspective. These challenges include the potential of double-claiming issue, and the regulatory barriers of procuring green electricity cross-provincially in the wholesale market.

The FCEV logistics operation business in China emerged in 2017, with the establishment of STNE and its astonishing news of immediately deploying 500 Dongfeng FC light-duty trucks in Shanghai. This article will explore the current situation and business model of the 3 major FCEV operators in China.

Snapshot:
1. To realize carbon neutrality and maintain a sustainable green economy, China will use more renewable-energy power and further marketize the power industry. Under this background, the government has eyed managing demand-side resources, instead of heavily exploiting fossil-based resources in previous times. As an effective measure of demand-side management (DSM), the demand response (DR) has been more frequently implemented throughout the country, especially in tier-one cities.
2. Different from other administrative measures of demand-side management, demand response is more flexible in load resources and capital resources. It not only covers a diversity of load types, such as V2G-capable EVs and charging piles, VPP and storage system, but also leverages power markets to help participants gain revenue for joining demand repones events. (See example of Hebei Grid below)
3. As a party who gathers and organizes load resources, load aggregators (LAs) are created to better serve DR and opens up busines opportunities for various load resources and suppliers.

Snapshot:
1. Electricity prices for coal-fired power are allowed to rise to 20% against the benchmark price, compared to a previous cap of 10%. In reality, the price has surged to the highest ceiling price in many provinces.
2. Electricity cost for high energy consumption entities is not subject to the 20% cap. In Liaoning and Guangxi, province, the cost has increased nearly 50%.
3. Coal-fired power generators’ operation difficulty would be temporarily alleviated but facing stronger market competition in the future.
4. Bunch of new industries are emerging due to market reform, especially on the demand side. Big data plays an essential role in it.

Energy storage is highly complementary for the large-scale deployment of renewable sectors and is commonly regarded as the missing link between intermittent renewable power and 24/7 reliability. It can mitigate the issues of fluctuated production of renewable energy, meanwhile providing power source between blackouts as well as offering power quality management for stakeholders of the power system. Given its indispensable role, the government of China has highlighted its importance and brought in national planning, while gradually exploring the business model and economic feasibility of energy storage system.

The reuse of power batteries is one link in the new energy vehicle industry chain that of high importance yet meanwhile with the highest environmental risk and the most urgent need for technological progress. Technological issues are one of the important factors affecting the promotion of battery reuse. Upon retiree, power batteries need to go through the process from battery collection, battery disassembly, screening & testing, regrouping, system integration to the final application to suitable scenario. This article will discuss the pain points, main technologies, and technical details throughout the whole process.

As the reuse of retired power battery is still in the early stage of the industry, in policy-driven China when the market and industrial chain are not complete, the guidance and support from government is especially crucial. This article thus tries to discuss what are current policies that related to power battery reuse, how they exert influence on the industry and what is the trend for future policies.

In the last article, we discussed the FC strategies of Toyota. This time, we will look into the FC strategies of another giant in China, Hyundai. Unlike Toyota which has been actively seeking local SIs and OEMs as strategic partners, Hyundai took a completely different approach by setting up its own vehicle and FC system factories in China to further localize its integrated FCEV supply chain.

Toyota has been selling FC passenger vehicles in North America and Europe since 2015. But when they entered the Chinese market, they chose to focus on promoting FC commercial vehicles. Compared to the western market, there is no doubt that China indeed owns a larger market share of commercial vehicles. And the Chinese government is strongly supporting the promotion of FC commercial vehicles over passenger vehicles at the current stage, driven by the climate and energy policies. In the Chinese fuel cell industry, it has reached a consensus that FC commercial vehicles will be commercialized first than FC passenger vehicles.