Shuang Tan: Policy

#27: For China to Keep Up With Its Renewables Boom, Improving Power System Flexibility Is Key

Hongqiao Liu — Thu, 23 Jan 2025 16:41:07 GMT

In this week’s newsletter, the International Energy Agency’s Camille Paillard urges us to look beyond China’s exponential growth in wind and solar power installations and consider what else needs to be done to accelerate its transition from the world’s largest coal consumer and carbon emitter to a clean energy champion.

In 2024, China once again broke it…

#14: China’s Quest For Deeper Power Market Reform

Hongqiao Liu — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 16:03:50 GMT

Yesterday, Beijing released the Resolution on Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese Modernization, the principal outcome of the Third Plenum. The resolution reiterates the imperative of deepening energy system reforms and building a national unified electricity market.

In response to the renewed call for reform, Dr. Muyi Yang, Senio…

#13: Clearing The Smog Over China's “Low-Carbon Coal Power”

Hongqiao Liu — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 15:59:47 GMT

This week, China’s top energy planners unveiled a new policy for the “low-carbon transformation” of coal power plants. The three-year action plan aims to retrofit existing coal power units and build new ones with “low-carbon” technologies, namely co-firing with biomass or green ammonia, and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS).

In this newsletter, I worked with Xinyi Shen from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air and Aiqun Yu from Global Energy Monitor to develop an exclusive analysis for Shuang Tan. The two analysts argue that, at best, the new solutions distract from the energy transition; at worst, they enable greenwashing and subsidy fraud, with a high risk of abandonment midway.

Several aspects lead me to believe that the action plan is unlikely to drive industry-wide transformation or attract large-scale investment. Instead, it appears designed to test the selected technologies at a few carefully chosen coal power units, managed by a handful of Chinese central state-owned enterprises.

#04: Xi Jinping’s Little-Noticed Appeal for Alternative Proteins

Hongqiao Liu — Thu, 17 Mar 2022 14:08:33 GMT

“OBTAIN CALORIES AND PROTEIN FROM PLANTS,” China’s leader Xi Jinping said in a meeting on March 6 during the “Two Sessions.” Laying out his “comprehensive view on food security,” Xi listed food sources ranging from nature — forests, rivers, lakes, and seas — to bio-tech. He explicitly talked about developing bio-industries and obtaining calories and pro…

#03: For 2022, China Wants To Balance Climate Ambitions With Energy Security

Hongqiao Liu — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 17:16:11 GMT

Today, 2022’s “Two Sessions” wrapped up in Beijing. Over the last eight days, major draft documents were reviewed by the National People’s Congress (NPC) in smaller group meetings before being adopted, with mostly minor adjustments, through a plenary vote earlier today.

Among the most important documents of every year’s Two Sessions is the “Plan on Natio…

#02: Analysis: Beijing Rethinks Coal in the Aftermath of 2021’s Energy Crunch

Hongqiao Liu — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 19:19:41 GMT

Despite China’s dual-carbon (shuang tan) goals, and predictions of an “inevitable trend” of decline, 2021 was a good year for coal.

Last year, China recorded its “biggest increase” in total energy consumption (+5.2% year-on-year) in a decade. Total electricity consumption has doubled compared to 2010 (Scroll down for more newly published 2021 statistics).

#01: What Does China’s “No.1 Central Document” Say About Climate Change?

Hongqiao Liu — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 10:38:08 GMT

For the last two decades, the yearly “No.1 Central Document” — the first official document jointly released by China’s top party and state bodies after the Chinese New Year holiday — has talked about the “three rural issues” of agriculture, rural areas, and farmers.

This year’s document, released on February 22, is no exception. It outlines the key tasks…