| Abstract |
The government officials charged with implementing China’s renewable energy law have been investigating how to implement both a wind concession/tendering scheme and a standard feed-in tariff policy, while at the same time incorporating incentives for local renewable energy equipment manufacturing. Portugal’s renewable energy policy is an interesting case study because that country has also sought to implement these three concepts into a coherent renewable energy policy. This paper summarizes the Portuguese policy measures promoting renewable energy. It discusses the principal supporting instruments that have been established, with particular emphasis on the feed-in tariff regulation for electricity from renewable sources. A striking element of that regulation is the specific formula that is used to calculate the effective remuneration for renewable energy projects, on a monthly basis, with respect to the individual features of the power generation facility in question. This formula is therefore presented in some detail. The second part of this paper reviews the large utility tender for wind power that was released by the Portuguese government in 2005. Besides seeking to increase the installed capacity of wind power in the country, this tender aimed to establish a wind turbine manufacturing industry in Portugal. This was done by introducing local content requirements. The present paper lists the requirements potential bidding parties had to meet. It further discusses how bids were evaluated, as well as their interaction with the existing feed-in scheme for renewable electricity. The paper concludes with a brief presentation of the tender outcomes, and an overview of plans for additional tender calls. Although experience from Portugal is not necessarily applicable to China’s unique conditions, three elements of this experience may be of particular interest to our Chinese colleagues: a) The design of Portugal’s feed-in tariff policy, and how feed-in tariff levels are established, b)How Portugal has implemented both a tendering/concession program and feed-in tariff policy, and the relationship between these two types of support mechanisms, c) The design of Portugal’s tendering system, including incentives and requirements for local wind manufacturing, and bid evaluation methods. |
