China to hike power tariff for biomass projects
Shanghai. June 25. INTERFAX-CHINA - The Chinese central government has decided to hike the power tariff for biomass projects in order to increase their profitability, state media reported on June 25.
According to China Securitas News, several governmental institutions, including the National Energy Administration (NEA), have assessed the operation statuses of biomass power projects in Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu and Henan Provinces and have proposed raising the power tariff.
An anonymous insider told the paper that the proposed tariff may be as high as RMB 0.75 ($0.11) per kilowatt hour (kWh), which would ensure the profitability of these projects.
In 2006, the central government began offering subsidies of RMB 0.25 ($0.0074) per kWh of output from biomass projects, but many developers have still been posting losses.
-TW