On July 3, 2019, the National Development and Reform Commission issued a letter soliciting opinions on the "Notice on Solving Relevant Issues in the Promotion of Clean Heating such as "Coal to Gas" and "Coal to Electricity".
This letter mainly proposes solutions to typical common problems that arise in the process of promoting clean heating such as "coal to gas" and "coal to electricity".
The previous article published at the end of last year "The world is not worth it. Is the vigorous coal-to-gas conversion in rural areas worth it?" 》 once detailed a series of problems and hidden dangers in promoting large-scale coal-to-gas conversion for rural residents:
1. In China, which has a lot of coal but little gas, it is difficult for a smart woman to make a living without rice. Large-scale coal-to-gas conversion requires the import of a large amount of expensive natural gas. These costs will eventually be passed on to the people;
2. The development of urban pipeline gas over the years has mainly solved the problem of safe and cheap energy transmission and distribution in urban environments with dense population, dense housing, and dense high-rise buildings. If the urban pipeline gas is transferred to the countryside, and millions are spent to build 10 kilometers, 20 kilometers of gas pipelines and other supporting facilities in some scattered villages, but more than 100,000 cubic meters of gas are used every year, the investment income is completely incalculable;
3. Move urban pipeline gas to rural areas. In rural areas, the understanding and safety awareness of pipeline gas are relatively weak, and at the same time, users are more widely distributed. It is difficult for urban gas companies to allocate reasonable safety management personnel according to urban areas, which may directly lead to rural Pipeline gas is a huge safety risk;
4. Natural gas heating is a luxury product. There are still many residents in urban areas who cannot afford the cost of natural gas wall-mounted boilers for winter heating. However, residents far away in rural areas with relatively poor economic conditions and low affordability are required to pay thousands or even tens of thousands. The cost of heating in winter is completely a misallocation of resources;
5. The economic affordability of rural areas is limited. Each household needs to spend at least about 8,000 yuan to complete the installation of coal-to-gas heating equipment and gas pipelines. 10 million users will need to spend 80 billion. Of course, the government will bear part of it. But this part of the subsidy expenditure may also put a lot of pressure on local governments, especially county-level governments, which are already heavily in debt. Furthermore, the wool comes from the sheep, and government spending also comes from taxpayers;
6. Natural gas heating has its own "bad habit of peaking", which creates a major problem of gas storage and peak regulation, and ultimately leads to the tragedy of historic gas shortage.
ReallyThe world is not worth it, and it is even less worth it for residents to switch from coal to gas!
Two years after the coal-to-gas switch, the mess left by the coal-to-gas switch finally needs to be cleaned up from scratch.
Different from the previous principles that were put forward after the one-size-fits-all change from coal to gas, the National Development and Reform Commission suddenly made a 180-degree policy adjustment in the opinions of the National Development and Reform Commission, and began to propose the focus on the development of clean coal heating and biomass energy. On the one hand, this major change in heating policy should be due to the pressure of various problems such as gas shortages, safety accidents, difficulties in getting subsidies, and residents' affordability caused by the current process of switching from coal to gas and electricity. On the other hand, it is also It may be due to energy security concerns caused by China's sharp increase in external dependence on natural gas after the coal-to-gas switch. Of course, the most important thing is to start from the actual heating needs of the people and reflect the starting point of the policy that puts people's livelihood first.
1. Expand a variety of clean heating methods, focusing on clean coal and biomass heating
Article 6 of the letter requires: Expand a variety of clean heating methods according to local conditions to ensure the balanced development of clean heating. In urban areas, focus on the development of clean coal-fired central heating and increase the area of clean coal-fired central heating in towns and surrounding areas. In rural areas, the focus is on the development of biomass heating, while solving environmental problems caused by the direct combustion of large amounts of agricultural and forestry waste.
This article may be revolutionary for the original coal-to-gas and coal-to-electricity policies.
Policymakers finally realized the problem of one-size-fits-all. This change was made in response to the problems of ensuring natural gas supply and rural gas safety that have arisen in the current promotion of natural gas heating.
To put it simply, China is rich in coal and short of gas. The most economical, convenient and safest method is to use coal for heating. Compared with scattered coal household heating, clean coal centralized boiler heating or combined heat and power heating are more economical and safer. Environmental protection is the most compromise and effective method.
In rural areas, it’s hard to explain. It is definitely inappropriate for farmers with an average annual income of several thousand yuan to spend a year’s savings on heating in winter. The most convenient and economical way is definitely agricultural and forestry waste, but this is also There is inevitably a pollution problem, so the use of biomass energy to solve rural heating is mentioned here, which is a more Western term. However, what is the scope of this biomass energy, how to implement and supervise it is not mentioned in the article. This I'm afraid more detailed research and demonstration are needed. Chinese farmers really can't afford to be hurt, so don't bother anymore.
In addition, the letter also requires that the original heating facilities must not be dismantled until the new clean heating facilities have implemented energy supply and are operating safely and stably. For users who still need to use coal for heating, work must be done to ensure the supply of clean coal. For remote mountainous areas, it is currently not possible to replace it with clean heating.To replace scattered coal for heating, focus on using clean coal + energy-saving and environmentally friendly stoves to replace scattered coal.
2. Establish and improve the long-term support mechanism for clean heating
This is simply how to make clean heating affordable for residents.
In terms of natural gas, the main task is to optimize and improve the price policy for coal-to-gas stations, and flexibly use the market-based trading mechanism to ensure the overall stability of gas station prices for people's livelihood. The letter also requires all provinces and cities to promptly study and formulate policy plans to continue to promote clean heating after the subsidies expire, and to report to the National Development and Reform Commission and the Energy Administration before the end of July.
As mentioned earlier, natural gas heating is inherently a luxury product, and rural residents simply cannot afford it. In terms of early policies, residential heating was mainly promoted through government gas price subsidies, upstream gas price concessions, and urban gas companies bearing part. At present, the re-ignition rate of scattered coal among residents has exceeded 30%, and it is estimated to be even higher in some areas. Judging from the description of the document, there will definitely be no subsidies from the central government in the future. It is estimated that local governments will not be able to guarantee that they will spend large sums of money to subsidize gas prices every year. What is left are upstream units such as PetroChina and Sinopec and terminal urban gas companies. , it is even more nonsense to allow companies to operate at a loss every year. From this perspective, there may not be many options left for provinces and cities to formulate long-term mechanisms. It is time to consider the level of decision-makers in various places.
Judging from the current situation, if the subsidy policy cannot be sustained, it may be inevitable for some rural areas that have been transformed to return to clean coal heating.
3. Standardize the bidding mechanism to ensure the quality of heating products such as gas wall-mounted boilers and electric heaters
Stimulated by national policy subsidies, a large number of low-quality wall-hung boilers and other heating equipment of various brands have poured into rural areas. A normal imported wall-hung boiler may cost over RMB 1,000, and a domestic brand wall-hung boiler will cost at least RMB 5,000. However, during the coal-to-gas conversion process, you can see wall-hung boilers costing as little as over RMB 2,000 or even over RMB 1,000. The cost of such a haphazardly assembled thing is estimated to be just over RMB 1,000. A few hundred yuan. Natural gas is inherently flammable and explosive. The use of unqualified gas products has extremely high safety risks. Once problems occur, the consequences will be disastrous.
This article is aimed at the above-mentioned problems, requiring strict quality control during the bidding process, avoiding the use of products with substandard quality and safety hazards, and ensuring the safety and effectiveness of users' heating.
In general, this major policy adjustment seems to be a helpless choice, but there is still a sense of humanity in the helplessness.
The following is the text of the opinion:
