Analysis of world renewable energy policy and development

Fiscal and tax support policies are indispensable in promoting the development of renewable energy, and some countries provide funding for research and development of renewable energy technologies. For example, Australia provided US $3.4 million to support solar PV research and development projects; Japan provided US $19 million to establish a project to promote research and development of geothermal energy development technologies; However, due to the significant decline in the cost of renewable energy utilization and the continued impact of the international financial crisis, on the one hand, some countries have weakened their fiscal and tax policy support. For example, the Czech Republic plans to eliminate all renewable energy subsidies by 2014. On the other hand, some countries have begun to increase taxes on renewable energy technology and equipment. For example, in 2012, Bulgaria issued a temporary retroactive tax on solar, wind, hydro and biomass power generation projects.

Net Metering means that users with renewable energy power generation facilities can deduct part of their electricity bills according to the amount of electricity transported to the grid, that is, only calculate the net consumption of user electricity. The net metering tariff is generally used for small-scale power generation facilities at the user end, such as wind energy, solar photovoltaic, domestic fuel cells, etc. Today, 37 countries operate net metering tariff systems, including Canada and the United States, as well as Denmark, the United Kingdom and Italy. In 2012, Brazil, Chile and other countries began to implement net metering tariff policies.

Green Power price system (Green Power price system) in many countries in the world, the price formation mechanism is by the government to set the price of renewable energy products, including renewable energy electricity, heat and transportation fuel, etc. by consumers in accordance with the stipulated price of voluntary subscription. Among them, the United States, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands are typical countries that implement such a system. In addition to voluntary green purchases by consumers and enterprises, some governments also require utilities or power suppliers to force the use of green power products to support and promote the rapid development of large-scale applications of renewable energy in their countries.

The development trend of renewable energy

In the future, with the gradual increase in the proportion of renewable energy in the global energy consumption market, the strategic position is becoming more prominent, and the global energy supply system and consumption pattern will have a profound impact, and the future energy supply pattern will also be fundamentally changed.

Since 2012, with the improvement of global renewable energy technology, its equipment manufacturing costs have continued to decline. According to statistics, the global price of solar photovoltaic modules has fallen by more than 50%, and the price of onshore fans has fallen by 5%-10%. Therefore, the significant decline in production costs makes solar energy, wind energy and other renewable energy gradually have the cost advantage of competing with traditional fossil energy. In the long run, falling costs make renewable energy increasingly competitive.

In recent years, under the background of increasingly prominent global ecological and environmental problems, the development speed of the world's renewable energy has been accelerating, and the scale of the industry has continued to expand. The European Union, the International Energy Agency, the United States Energy Information Administration, the World Bank and other government departments and research institutions have raised the market share expectations for future renewable energy development. For example, the IEA World Energy Outlook (2012) predicts that by 2025, renewable energy generation will account for 31% of the global power generation market; The GEA Global Energy Assessment (2012) predicts that the share of renewable energy generation in the global power generation market will reach 62% by 2050.

In the future, the application of renewable energy support policies such as feed-in tariffs and quotas will be more extensive. In general, the feed-in tariff is applicable to the initial stage of renewable energy development, and the quota system is more applied to the mature stage of renewable energy development. The application of feed-in tariff is most obvious in the EU region, and there is a trend of gradual expansion; The quota system is mainly widely implemented in developed countries such as the United States and has achieved good results, and will be more and more widely used in the future.

In recent years, affected by the international financial crisis and sovereign debt crisis, while the progress of wind power and photovoltaic technology has also led to a significant reduction in power generation costs, some countries have begun to reduce the on-grid electricity price of renewable energy or reduce financial subsidies, support has weakened, while increasing the tax burden on renewable energy equipment and power generation. In general, in the future, under the influence of a series of uncertain factors such as the international economic situation, the shortage of traditional fossil energy and geopolitics, countries' policy support for renewable energy will be further differentiated.