Circular of the National Energy Administration on Seven Typical Issues Concerning Grid Connection and Access of Distributed Photovoltaic Power

In accordance with the deployment of energy regulatory work in 2024, the National Energy Administration has focused on the overall situation of energy development, strengthened supervision over the grid connection and access of distributed photovoltaic (PV) power, and taken such aspects as the grid connection and access of distributed PV as important contents of comprehensive supervision and daily supervision in the power sector in 2024. To further promote the healthy development of distributed PV and give full play to the warning and educational role of typical issues, seven typical issues concerning the grid connection and access of distributed PV discovered in the comprehensive supervision and daily supervision of the power sector by the National Energy Administration in 2024 are hereby notified as follows:

1. The time limit for handling grid connection of distributed PV projects is generally overdue, affecting the construction progress of distributed PV projects. Since 2023, a power supply enterprise in Yantai City, Shandong Province has accepted 597 distributed PV power generation projects. Among them, 400 work orders took more than 20 working days to issue grid connection opinions, accounting for 67%, and 339 work orders took more than 30 working days, accounting for 57%. For example, a distributed PV power generation project in Yantai City submitted a grid connection application on December 29, 2022, but the power supply enterprise did not accept it until March 21, 2023, taking as long as 83 days. The above-mentioned acts violate the provisions on the time limit for replying to grid connection opinions in the Interim Measures for the Administration of Distributed Photovoltaic Power Generation Projects (Guo Neng Xin Neng 〔2013〕 No. 433).

2. Illegally expanding the red zone for distributed PV access, restricting the access of distributed PV projects to the power grid. A power supply enterprise in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province determined that the carrying capacity of distributed PV in the corresponding area was zero because centralized new energy power plants such as biomass power plants transmitted power back to the 220 kV and above power grid. For example, on April 23, 2024, a 220 kV substation in Harbin City had reverse power transmission of the main transformer due to the increased output of the biomass power plant and the reduced load caused by the planned maintenance of the line. The county where the substation is located was identified as a red zone in the second quarter of 2024, and distributed PV access was no longer allowed. The above-mentioned acts violate the provisions in the Guidelines for Assessment of Grid Connection Capacity of Distributed Generation (DL/T 2041 - 2019) that "if reverse power transmission to the 220 kV and above power grid is caused by distributed generation, the assessment level of the area shall be red".

3. Non-standard handling of the name change and ownership transfer business of distributed PV projects, affecting the fair access of distributed PV projects to the power grid. A power supply enterprise in Zhumadian City, Henan Province has loopholes in meter management, allowing PV companies to directly receive electric meters and open accounts. In fact, the relevant projects have not been completed and connected to the power supply, resulting in some PV users transferring meter space; the management of name change and ownership transfer of PV projects is not standardized. Some projects illegally handle name change and ownership transfer after completing the formal meter installation and power connection, resulting in the transfer of grid-connected meters in the name of name change and ownership transfer and successful grid connection in the restricted reporting areas. The above-mentioned acts violate the provisions of the Electricity Supervision Regulations (State Council Decree No. 432) and the Measures for the Supervision of Fair Access to the Power Grid (Guo Neng Fa Jian Guan Gui 〔2021〕 No. 49) that power grid enterprises shall provide grid access services to power owners in a fair and non-discriminatory manner.

4. Failure to provide agency filing services to individual household PV users in accordance with regulations, increasing the filing burden of individual household PV projects. Since 2022, a power supply enterprise in Shizuishan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region has failed to provide agency filing services to individual household PV users in accordance with regulations. All individual household PV in the service area are handled by users themselves at the filing authority, involving 917 households. The above-mentioned acts violate the provisions of the Interim Measures for the Administration of Distributed Photovoltaic Power Generation Projects (Guo Neng Xin Neng 〔2013〕 No. 433) that distributed photovoltaic power generation projects built by individuals using their own residences and in residential areas shall be directly registered by the local power grid enterprise and centrally filed with the local energy competent department.

5. Entrusting the access system engineering of distributed PV projects to the owners for investment and construction, increasing the investment cost of distributed PV projects. Since 2023, a power supply enterprise in Nanning City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has replied to the 10 kV medium-voltage access system schemes of 37 distributed PV projects. Due to reasons such as the power supply enterprise being unable to meet the owners' construction progress requirements, 22 of the access system projects were invested and built by the owners, accounting for 59%, and no repurchase was carried out, increasing the investment of distributed PV owners by approximately 29.35 million yuan. The above-mentioned acts are not in line with the provisions of the Interim Measures for the Administration of Distributed Photovoltaic Power Generation Projects (Guo Neng Xin Neng 〔2013〕 No. 433) that the access system engineering of distributed photovoltaic power generation projects shall be invested and constructed by power grid enterprises.

6. Overdue settlement of distributed PV electricity charges, affecting the income of distributed PV projects. A power supply enterprise in Hefei City, Anhui Province had a delayed settlement of 91.67 million yuan in distributed PV electricity charges in 2023 (53.65 million yuan was not due to power grid reasons), among which some electricity charges were settled with a delay of more than 1 year. For example, on September 26, 2023, it settled the electricity charges of 720,000 yuan for January - July 2023 with a new energy technology company in Hefei; on January 29, 2024, it settled the electricity charges of 60,000 yuan for June 2022 - November 2023 with an engineering management company in Hefei. The above-mentioned acts violate the provisions on the time limit for electricity charge settlement in the Measures for the Settlement of Electricity Charges between Power Generation Enterprises and Power Grid Enterprises (Guo Neng Fa Jian Guan 〔2020〕 No. 79).

7. Illegally filing distributed PV projects, creating barriers in the distributed PV market. Since 2016, the Development and Reform Bureau of a district in Meishan City, Sichuan Province has filed 153 distributed PV projects with a capacity of 210 MW, among which 133 projects with a capacity of 204 MW belong to a grain company in Meishan City. The bureau arbitrarily added the precondition of "access point and line capacity" in the filing of distributed PV projects without making it public; at the same time, it discriminated against private enterprises, directly rejecting their formally submitted filing applications without reason or failing to file them for up to 2 months; after returning the filing applications of private enterprises' distributed PV projects, it transferred them to its subordinate grain company in Meishan City for filing. The above-mentioned acts violate the provisions on project filing management in the Measures for the Approval and Filing of Enterprise Investment Projects (Decree No. 2 of the National Development and Reform Commission).

The above seven typical issues concerning the grid connection and access of distributed PV expose the problems existing in some power enterprises and local energy competent departments in the early filing and grid access of distributed PV power generation projects, which restrict the development of distributed PV and are typical and representative. All power enterprises and relevant units should draw profound lessons from the notified typical issues, learn from them by analogy, and take them as a warning. They should earnestly improve their political stance, firmly implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council on the green and low-carbon development of energy, further strengthen the management of the development and construction of distributed PV, optimize the business environment, improve the efficiency of grid access services, and promote the high-quality development of distributed PV.


National Energy Administration

October 18, 2024