The "Notice on Matters Related to the Development and Construction of Wind Power and Photovoltaic Power Generation in 2021 (Draft for Comments)" issued in early 2021 first proposed to launch the "Wind Control Plan in Thousands of Villages". Since then, wind power going to the countryside has been attracting industry attention.

Recently, the "Notice on Organizing and Carrying out the" Wind Control Action in Thousands of Villages "(hereinafter referred to as the" Notice ") was officially released, proposing to promote the local and nearby development and utilization of wind power according to local conditions, assist rural revitalization, and promote the green and low-carbon transformation of rural energy.

The long-awaited policy has finally been implemented, what development signals are being sent out? Industry experts agree that the "Notice" focuses on the difficulties and blockages of wind power going to the countryside and puts forward innovative ideas different from the development of conventional wind power projects, which will lead the wind power industry to embark on a new development path beyond large models, large bases, and centralized systems.

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"Based on the pilot development of 1000 villages every year, 20 million kilowatts of new installed capacity can be added every year."

Open up a new growth pole for wind power development

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In the process of implementing the rural revitalization strategy, new energy is becoming an important driving force, among which wind power has great potential.

From the "14th Five-Year Plan for Renewable Energy Development" that clearly promotes the development of rural wind power, to the "Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Transformation and Development of Rural Energy to Assist Rural Revitalization" that proposes to vigorously develop rural new energy industries and achieve the proportion of wind power and other factors in rural energy. Continuous improvement, in recent years, the policy of promoting wind power to the countryside has slowly blown.

Now, the "Notice" has finally been implemented after soliciting many rounds of industry opinions, and will further enhance the role of wind power to the countryside as a link between the development of wind power and the promotion of rural energy revolution.

"China's rural areas are rich and widely distributed in wind energy resources. It is of great practical significance to make full use of scattered land in rural areas and promote the local and nearby development and utilization of wind power according to local conditions." Wang Dapeng, deputy director of the New Energy and Renewable Energy Department of the National Energy Administration, pointed out.

Implementing the "Thousands of Villages and Thousands of Villages Wind Control Action" will promote the development of wind power in rural areas and achieve multi-energy complementarity and deep integration with rural distributed photovoltaics and biomass power generation, which will help adjust the rural energy structure, promote the rural energy revolution, and help achieve Double carbon goals.

At the same time, the action clarifies that in rural areas of qualified counties (cities, districts, and flags), villages are used as units and "village-enterprise cooperation" as the main form to support village collectives to share wind power through land use rights pricing and shares in accordance with the law. Project benefits and providing corresponding jobs will help broaden the channels for village collectives and farmers to increase their income and become rich, so that wind power development can truly benefit "agriculture, rural areas and farmers".

"Carrying out the 'Thousand Villages Wind Control Action' will open up a new growth pole for wind power development." Wang Dapeng said that China's wind power has always focused on large-scale development in the "Three Norths" areas. As low-wind power generation technology gradually matures, it is increasingly feasible and economical to develop wind power locally and nearby in the southern Middle East.

王大鹏给记者算了一笔经济账，如每年选择具备条件的1000个村进行试点开发，按每村装机2万千瓦测算，年可新增风电装机2000万千瓦，新增投资约1000亿元，既能为风电发展打开新的市场空间，也能更好发挥促发展、扩投资、稳增长的作用。按风电行业普遍6%_{8%的预期收益率计算，一台3}4兆瓦风机一年所发电量，可为村集体实现增收5万~10万元。

From the perspective of market space, according to Qin Haiyan, secretary-general of the Wind Energy Professional Committee of the China Renewable Energy Society, there are currently about 590,000 administrative villages across the country. If you select 100,000 villages with qualified conditions, install four 5 MW units on scattered land such as fields, in front of and behind villages, and rural roads, and achieve 2 billion kilowatts of wind power installation, with huge development potential.

Over the past ten years, relying on large-scale development and continuous innovation, China has cultivated a globally competitive wind power industry chain and supply chain, providing good conditions for wind power to go to the countryside.

"Following rural revitalization is China's choice for wind power and the inevitability of the times." Li Fei, vice president of Goldwind Technology Co., Ltd., said in an interview with a reporter from China Energy Media that the "Wind Control Action in Thousands of Villages" will bring broader development space to the wind power industry.

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Optimize the approval process and provide "one-stop" services

Solve the problem of wind power going to the countryside according to local conditions

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Under the broad development space, how to coordinate resource allocation and take into account project development and the actual interests of village collectives still requires policy standardization, multi-party linkage, and orderly implementation.

China has a vast territory, and the situation of rural wind energy resources and land resources varies from place to place. At the same time, although the advantages of developing wind power in rural areas are obvious, there are still practical problems in development in terms of power grid access and consumption, rural land use, and project approval. Therefore, the process of promoting wind power to the countryside must not be blindly promoted, and we must not "form a swarm of bees" and "rush forward".

"Adapting measures to local conditions" is the primary principle of carrying out the "Action to Control the Wind in Thousands of Villages".

The "Notice" emphasizes the need to coordinate economic and social development, ecological and environmental protection, power grid carrying capacity and production and operation safety, etc., and build if possible, and pilot projects first. Based on actual research, all provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) have proposed the overall plan of their province (autonomous regions and municipalities)'s "Action to Control Wind in Thousands of Villages and Thousands of Villages", clarifying the scale of development and utilization, key development areas, ecological and environmental protection requirements and relevant safeguard measures. Each prefecture and city will prepare detailed implementation plans by county based on the overall provincial plan and organize implementation.

The reporter noticed that focusing on the difficult points of wind power going to the countryside, the "Notice" proposed supporting measures in terms of project land use, grid connection consumption, and market environment.

Optimize the approval procedures, encourage all localities to explore a trial filing system for the "Wind Control Action in Thousands of Villages" wind power projects, and provide "one-stop" services based on actual conditions.

Land use is handled in accordance with the law, emphasizing that scattered non-cultivated land in rural areas should be fully utilized, and permanent basic farmland must not be occupied. Land that does not occupy cultivated land, change surface form, and change land use should be explored through leasing and other methods.

Ensure grid-connected consumption, and make it clear that projects will mainly be consumed locally nearby. Grid companies will implement guaranteed grid-connected electricity. The feed-in price will be implemented in accordance with the new energy feed-in price policy of the year when grid-connected. Participation in market-oriented transactions will be encouraged, and electricity participating in market transactions will not participate in auxiliary service cost allocation.

To create a good market environment, unreasonable investment costs must not be increased in the name of supporting industries or disguised collection of resource fees.

Economy is one of the important factors affecting the enthusiasm of development companies to invest in wind power to rural areas. To promote the development of wind power in rural areas, on the one hand, we must benefit rural people's livelihood, and on the other hand, we must also let development companies see economic feasibility, so as to achieve win-win results for all parties. The "Notice" proposes to strengthen financial support, implement green finance and rural revitalization financial policies, and increase support for projects in terms of financing, loans and other aspects.

In rural revitalization wind power projects, faced with challenges such as difficult resource assessment, high construction costs, strict grid connection requirements, and many environmental restrictions, highly reliable products and technologies, environmentally friendly, and predictable benefits have become necessary conditions. "The 'Thousand Villages Wind Control Action' proposes to adhere to local conditions, which puts forward higher requirements for wind power technology." Li Fei said that wind turbines should be more environmentally adaptable, and the interaction between source, network, load and storage should be more efficient and flexible.

Regarding the "Notice" clearly explores the formation of a new wind power investment and construction model of "village-enterprise cooperation" and a new income distribution mechanism of "co-construction and sharing", and promotes the construction of wind power development in which "the village has wind power, the collective increases profits, and the villagers benefit". Using the new pattern, Qin Haiyan said that experience can be accumulated through pilot demonstrations and gradually promoted in an orderly manner. "In the preliminary survey, local governments and enterprises have shown high enthusiasm and believe that the 'Action to Control the Wind in Thousands of Villages' is not only an important direction for high-quality industrial development, but also an important starting point for rural revitalization." Qin Haiyan pointed out.

"'Thousands of Villages Wind Control Action 'aims to promote the layout and development of wind power in rural areas. It still takes time to transmit and gradually implement policies at all levels, and there is a long way to go to improve the supporting mechanisms and build systems." Li Fei said.

author:Qiu Yanchao

edit:Kong Kexing

proofreading:Han Yuxi