The World Bank has approved $300 million in loans for the China Renewable Energy and Battery Storage Promotion Project to increase the integration and utilization of renewable energy.

“This project will help accelerate the ongoing clean energy transition in China and contribute to the country’s emission reduction targets,” said Martin Raiser, World Bank Country Director for China.

“By providing financing for battery storage and distributed renewable energy applications, the project will reduce the curtailment of renewable energy capacity and therefore encourage further investments into changing China’s energy mix. Parallel technical assistance will help improve the policy and regulatory framework for green energy technologies, thereby reducing risks and encouraging private investment,” he added.

Hua Xia Bank has been assigned to implement this project. The Chinese commercial bank will provide co-financing of at least $450 million to achieve the development goals of the project.

Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) will be responsible for shaping appropriate technology and safety standards, technical assistance for policy and regulatory reforms, and developing institutional capabilities.

This project is part of the World Bank Group’s September 2018 commitment to significantly increase support to battery storage solutions globally through a $1 billion battery storage investment program.  The World Bank Group has already established a new international partnership – the Energy Storage Partnership (ESP) – a platform where countries can share lessons and experiences from China’s deployment of batteries in power systems.

In September 2018, Mercom reported that on the eve of the One Planet Summit held in New York, the World Bank committed to helping these countries in increasing their use of renewables, particularly wind and solar power, improve energy security, increase grid stability, and expand access to electricity.

Although China is considered as the world’s biggest investor in clean energy, especially wind and solar, the country is struggling to operate and utilize these resources to the maximum due to technical constraints in the transmission networks and gaps in the regulatory framework.

Recently, China approved over 20 GW of solar and wind projects as part of its plan to install unsubsidized renewable energy projects in the country.

In April 2019, Mercom had reported about China’s National Energy Administration (NEA), drafting a project report on promoting non-subsidized affordable projects for wind and solar power generation. In June, NEA confirmed that it would allocate approximately RMB 3 billion ($435 million) for solar projects this year.

As of now, China is the largest solar PV market in the world. Prioritization of unsubsidized projects with an off-take guarantee will further help the country in consolidating its pole position.