The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China has decided to cut onshore wind projects feed-in tariffs (FiTs) in July 2019 and 2020 and to remove feed-in tariffs (FiTs) for new onshore wind projects as of 1 January 2021, when grid price parity will apply to all new power generation projects.
The guidance price for new onshore wind projects will be reduced to CNY 0.34-0.52/kWh (US$4.9-7.5c/kWh) (depending on the wind resource area) on 1 July 2019 and to CNY 0.29-0.47/kWh (US$4.2-6.8c/kWh) in 2020, a level lower than coal-fired power unit benchmark on-grid price. Decentralised wind projects will not benefit from any state subsidies and will have to negotiate prices with power users. As of 1 January 2021, new onshore wind projects will not benefit from any support and will have to compete with all technologies.
As for offshore wind projects, the guidance price is adjusted to CNY 0.8/kWh (US$11.6c/kWh) on 1 July 2019 and to CNY 0.75/kWh (US$10.9c/kWh) in 2020: the tariff for newly approved offshore wind projects through competition should not exceed this level. Offshore projects approved before the end of 2018 and connected to the grid before the end of 2021 will benefit from the FiT in force at the time of the approval; those with all units connected as of 2022 will receive the corresponding tariff.
China has progressively cut its financial support for onshore wind and solar projects and has promoted subsidy-free projects. Earlier in April 2019, the NDRC and the National Energy Administration (NEA) approved 250 renewable power projects totalling 20,760 MW in 16 provinces that will be developed without subsidy.
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