Electricity sector reforms in China

The new episode of the FSR Insights series will focus on electricity sector reforms in China.

The electricity sector in China has passed through several reforms in the last half-century. In the mid-1980s, the first major reform introduced new ways of purchasing electricity as means of lowering entry barriers and expanding the industry. The second major reform in the late 1990s aimed at the corporatization of state-owned companies to act as market players and respond to market signals. The third major reform in 2003 imposed the unbundling of a single giant vertically-integrated company into pieces composed of independent generators, transmission, distribution, and retail companies.

Nowadays, the electricity sector in China is facing the need for a fourth major reform, which should conciliate the continued need for expansion of generation to respond to the still-growing demand with the pressure to accomplish the policy targets of carbon neutrality in 2060.

The FSR Insight will host Professor Furong Li, University of Bath, and Professor Xu Yi-chong, University of Griffith, to revisit the past reforms in the Chinese electricity sector and unwrapped the key challenges for the future. What are the main policy drivers for the electricity sector reforms in China? What has already been achieved, and what are the latest policy developments? What are the main technologies that are being deployed in this growing electricity system? Who are the main actors in the value chain? What are the ambitions to cooperate with other countries? What can we learn from this experience?

Hosts:

Leonardo Meeus, FSR

Lucila de Almeida, FSR

Speakers:

Furong Li, University of Bath

Xu Yi-chong , University of Griffith

Discussants:

Daniele Stampatori, FSR

Sofia Nicolai, FSR

Before joining the events, watch our pills!

Prof. Xu Yi-Chong on Electricity in China:

Prof. Furong Li on China’s power sector reforms:

#FSRInsights

The new season of the FSR Insights will feature world-class academics from the energy field, as well as the FSR research team members in the role of discussants, to investigate timely energy topics and future scenarios.