China's first Energy Law publicly solicits opinions

For a long time, basic energy laws have been absent. The formulation of the "Energy Law" is an urgent need to advance the "four revolutions, one cooperation" new energy security strategy.

On April 10, the National Energy Administration issued an announcement on the "Energy Law of the People's Republic of China (Consultation Draft)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinion Draft"), giving priority to the development of renewable energy as one of the biggest highlights.

The "Draft Opinion" has 11 chapters and 117 articles, covering energy strategy and planning, energy development and processing conversion, energy supply and use, energy market, and energy security.

The "Draft Opinion" pointed out in Article 4 of Chapter 1 General Provisions that the state adjusts and optimizes the energy industry structure and consumption structure, giving priority to the development of renewable energy, the safe and efficient development of nuclear power, increasing the proportion of non-fossil energy, and promoting the clean and efficient use of fossil energy And low carbon development.

Article 23 further states that the state encourages the efficient and clean development and utilization of energy resources, supports the priority development of renewable energy, rationally develops fossil energy resources, develops distributed energy according to local conditions, and promotes the replacement of fossil energy with non-fossil energy and the replacement of high-carbon energy with low-carbon energy. Support the development and application of new fuels and industrial raw materials that replace oil and natural gas.

The "Draft Opinion" stated that the relevant departments of the State Council should take measures to promote the development of non-fossil energy sources such as renewable energy and nuclear energy, and monitor the proportion of non-fossil energy sources in primary energy consumption annually.

Article 44 states that for the renewable energy target system, the country lists renewable energy as a priority area for energy development, formulates a national long-term and long-term total target for renewable energy development and utilization, and a target for the proportion of renewable energy in primary energy consumption. The binding indicators of national economic and social development plans and annual plans are broken down into provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities for implementation.

Regarding the renewable energy consumption guarantee system, the "Draft Opinion" stated that the state should establish a renewable energy electricity consumption guarantee system, which stipulates the minimum proportion of the electricity consumption of renewable energy generation in the social power consumption of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.

Power supply and electricity sales enterprises and power users participating in market-based transactions should complete the minimum weight index in their region.

Market entities that have not completed the lowest proportion of renewable energy power generation can fulfill their obligations through the market-based transaction method to purchase quotas from excess market entities. Relevant departments of the State Council will adjust the subsidy policy for renewable energy power generation according to the transaction situation.

In order to encourage the development of renewable energy, the state will formulate relevant fiscal, financial and price policies to support the development and utilization of renewable energy.

In terms of oil and gas development, the "Draft Opinion" pointed out that we must insist on equal emphasis on land and offshore to accelerate the development of offshore oil and gas fields. The state encourages the economic and effective development of unconventional, low-grade oil and gas resources such as tight oil and gas, shale oil, shale gas, and coal bed methane.

In addition, on the premise of protectivedevelopment, market entities that meet the access requirements are allowed to participate in oil and gas exploration and production.

With regard to the utilization of natural gas, the State Council ’s competent energy department and relevant departments of the State Council take measures to actively and rationally develop natural gas, optimize the structure of natural gas utilization, and increase the proportion of natural gas in primary energy consumption.

Regarding the pipeline network, the "Opinions" proposed that energy transmission pipeline network facilities such as power grids, oil and gas pipeline networks should improve the fair access mechanism, and be fair and non-discriminatory to market players such as qualified energy production and sales enterprises.

No unit or individual may restrict market subjects from applying for access to the energy transmission pipeline network in accordance with relevant state regulations.

The state will strengthen the overall planning of the pipeline network and promote the interconnection between the pipelines. The facilities, equipment and products connected to the energy transmission pipeline network shall meet the national standards.

Enterprises that undertake the supply of energy such as electricity, gas, and heat should publish their service cost benefits, service specifications, charging standards, and complaint channels at their business premises and through other means that are easily known to the public, and provide users with public Query service.

The "Draft Opinion" also stated that natural monopoly businesses and competitive businesses in the energy sector should be operated separately, and all types of investment entities should be encouraged to participate equally in energy development and utilization activities and infrastructure construction in accordance with the law.

Competitive links in the energy sector are mainly formed by the market, and the state promotes the formation of a mechanism that determines energy prices mainly by factors such as the status of energy resources, market supply and demand, environmental costs, and inter-generational fairness and sustainability.

The price of the natural monopoly link is managed by the price authority. The authority and scope of the government to set energy prices are based on central and local pricing catalogs.

Since the first public consultation in December 2007, the Energy Law has been in the process of being revised, submitted for review, incorporated into the legislative plan, and continued to be revised.

Since 2017, under the guidance of the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council and the Ministry of Justice, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration have set up an expert group and special working group to further revise and improve the revised version of the "Energy Law of the People's Republic of China (Draft for Review)" To form the new "Energy Law of the People's Republic of China (Draft for Comment)".

The National Energy Administration stated that for a long time, basic energy laws were absent. The formulation of the "Energy Law" is an urgent need to advance the "four revolutions, one cooperation" new energy security strategy, an urgent need to promote high-quality energy development, and an urgent need to promote the modernization of the energy governance system and governance capabilities.

The legal system to be set up in the "Opinions" mainly includes seven major aspects, including the overall planning and guidance of energy development and utilization activities through strategies and planning to promote clean and low-carbon energy development; scientifically promote energy development and energy infrastructure construction to improve energy supply capacity; Guide the need to ensure people ’s energy consumption and improve the universal energy service mechanism.

In addition, comprehensively promote the drive of scientific and technological innovation, improve the level of energy standardization, and accelerate the progress of energy technology; support the reform of the energy system and mechanisms, and comprehensively promote the marketization of energy; establish an energy reserve system, strengthen emergency response capacity, and ensure energy security; strengthen energy development and utilization according to law Supervision and management, improve the supervision system, and promote the modernization of the energy governance system and governance capabilities.