Politics of Renewable Energy in China

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 NEW HORIZONS IN ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS
Series Editor: Arthur Mol, Chair and Professor in Environmental Policy, Director,
Wageningen School of Social Sciences, Wageningen University, the Netherlands,
Professor in Environmental Policy, Renmin University, Beijing
The New Horizons in Environmental Politics series provides a platform for
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The series is designed to promote innovative cross-disciplinary analysis of
the contemporary issues and debates influencing the various dimensions of
environmental politics. Covering a diverse range of topics, the series will examine
the political, economic and ethical aspects of environmental policy, governance
and regulation. It brings together cutting edge research on environmental politics
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With oversight from the Series Editor, Professor Arthur Mol – a noted
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in the series are essential reading for students, academics and professionals
– in short, anyone with an interest in understanding the vital issues affecting
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Titles in the series include:
American Environmental Policy
The Failures of Compliance, Abatement and Mitigation
Daniel Press
Environmental Governance through Partnerships
A Discourse Theoretical Study
Ayşem Mert
The Domestic Politics of Global Climate Change
Key Actors in International Climate Cooperation
Edited by Guri Bang, Steinar Andresen and Arild Underdal
Linking EU Climate and Energy Policies
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Jevnaker
The Challenges of Collaboration in Environmental Governance
Barriers and Responses
Edited by Richard D. Margerum and Cathy J. Robinson
Politics of Renewable Energy in China
Chen Gang

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 Politics of Renewable
Energy in China

Chen Gang
East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore

NEW HORIZONS IN ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS

Cheltenham, UK • Northampton, MA, USA

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 © Chen Gang 2019

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored

in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical or photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior
permission of the publisher.

Published by
Edward Elgar Publishing Limited
The Lypiatts
15 Lansdown Road
Cheltenham
Glos GL50 2JA
UK

Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc.

William Pratt House
9 Dewey Court
Northampton
Massachusetts 01060
USA

A catalogue record for this book

is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018959285

This book is available electronically in the

Social and Political Science subject collection
DOI 10.4337/9781788118156

ISBN 978 1 78811 814 9 (cased)

ISBN 978 1 78811 815 6 (eBook)

Typeset by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire

02

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 For China’s sustainable development

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M4648-GANG_9781788118149_t.indd 6 29/11/2018 09:52
 Contents
List of figuresviii
List of tablesix

1. Introduction 1
2. China’s mercantile strategy to boost renewable sectors 12
3. Central authorities’ top-down approach of promoting
renewable energy 29
4. Challenges from the local: geographic and industrial barriers 46
5. Interest groups and the bureaucracy 61
6. Disputes over how to go low-carbon 80
7. Five-Year Plans and energy policy priorities 100
8. Discussion: energy policy priorities in a fragmented
authoritarian state 116
9. Conclusion: policy priorities reshaped by central–local
relationship and interest groups 137

Index153

vii

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 Figures
Figure 4.1 Regional distribution of cumulative wind power
installed capacity in China in 2015 48
Figure 6.1 Existing installed capacity of various electricity sectors
in China by end of 2017 (in GW) 85
Figure 8.1 Energy interest groups and their lobbying targets at the
central level 122
Figure 9.1 Policy interactions between Chinese central and local
governments, foreign pressures, interest groups, and
societal forces 139

viii

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 Tables
Table 2.1 China’s manufacturing capability in the solar PV
industrial chain (2008–2009) 15
Table 2.2 China’s subsidy rates for solar manufacturers in the US
and EU case (2012/2013) 22
Table 4.1 Solar energy resource distribution zones in China 49
Table 4.2 Available capacity versus peak demand by province in
2016 (GW) 50
Table 4.3 Wind power curtailment rates in wind-rich provinces in
201555
Table 6.1 China’s regional wind power tariffs (2009 and 2016) 93
Table 8.1 Electricity transmitted by China’s UHV lines in 2016 124

ix

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