Wind power is currently being curtailed at high rates in the Jing-Jin-Ji region. In 2015, 10% of wind power generated within the region was not accepted onto the grid. Similar or even worse situations are troubling other wind-rich regions in China too, such as Gansu and Xinjiang. In order to explore solutions lowering the curtailment rates in China, NRDC jointly held the 7th Power Sector Roundtable with the Paulson Institute on July 5th, 2016. During the conference, Paulson Institute also released its latest report on renewable energy curtailment in the Jing-Jin-Ji region.

To tackle high curtailment, this roundtable shows that China could learn from experiences in Germany and the U.S. state of Texas, which possess comparable population sizes and power demand profiles. Experts recommended exploring the setting up of a regional electricity spot market would greatly enhance the grid intake of renewable power due to low marginal cost of production, among others. German and Texas’s successful experience of integrating regional transmission planning, dedicated transmission routes for their high renewable output and the establishment of specific curtailment reduction goals were also highlighted. 

Click here to the conference files.