Notice of the National Energy Administration on Several Measures to Promote the Development of the Private Economy in the Energy Sector

Guo Neng Fa Fa Gai 〔2025〕 No. 40

Energy Bureaus of all provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government), Development and Reform Commissions of relevant provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government) and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, all dispatched agencies, and all relevant energy enterprises:

In order to thoroughly implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech at the symposium on private enterprises, promote the accelerated development of the private economy in the energy sector, and guide the private economy to grow bigger, better and stronger in advancing the green and low-carbon transformation of energy and building a new energy system, the following measures are put forward.

I. Supporting private enterprises to enhance development momentum

(1) Supporting investment in energy infrastructure construction. Support private enterprises to participate in equity investment in nuclear power projects and establish a sound long-term working mechanism. Support private enterprises to invest in the construction of infrastructure projects such as hydropower, oil and gas storage facilities, and liquefied natural gas receiving stations, and support private enterprises to participate in trunk or branch lines of oil and gas pipelines. Support private enterprises to participate in the investment and construction of "Shagehuang" (desert, gobi, and desertified areas) large-scale bases, and encourage private enterprises to build projects such as solar thermal power generation, diversified utilization of biomass energy, and renewable energy heating.

(2) Supporting the development of new energy formats and models. Accelerate the development of virtual power plants, orderly promote the development of green power direct connection models, study and issue opinions on supporting the healthy development of smart microgrids, formulate policies to promote high-power charging and improve the operation service quality of charging infrastructure, and support private enterprises to actively invest in new energy technologies, formats, and models such as new energy storage, virtual power plants, charging infrastructure, and smart microgrids.

(3) Encouraging innovative development of the private economy. Actively support private enterprises to deeply participate in major scientific and technological innovations in the energy sector, and encourage leading private technology enterprises to participate in the formulation of major strategies, plans, standards, and policies for energy science and technology development. Encourage national scientific and technological innovation platforms such as national laboratories to carry out collaborative research with private enterprises and realize the open sharing of achievements. Encourage private enterprises to participate in national science and technology special projects in the energy sector, guide private enterprises to carry out collaborative innovation with state-owned enterprises and other institutions, and conduct joint research on key projects. Support "Shagehuang" large-scale bases to independently apply a certain scale of cutting-edge technology photovoltaic modules according to market needs to help private enterprises' technological innovation.

(4) Supporting the transformation and upgrading of private energy enterprises. Encourage traditional private energy enterprises to accelerate digital transformation and intelligent upgrading, and support private enterprises to play a greater role in the intelligent transformation of coal mines, power plants, etc. Encourage private enterprises to promote grid-forming technological transformation of wind farms and photovoltaic power stations, innovate "artificial intelligence +" application scenarios, and improve output prediction accuracy, operation efficiency, and management level. Encourage private enterprises to actively cultivate advanced technologies and business models for the recycling of wind power and photovoltaic equipment, and improve resource utilization efficiency.

II. Promoting private enterprises' fair participation in the market

(5) Continuously improving the market access system. Promote the separation of oil and gas pipeline operation and sales, and guide private enterprises to more conveniently enter the competitive links of the oil and gas market. Revise the Measures for the Administration of Licenses for Undertaking the Installation, Repair, and Testing of Electric Power Facilities, optimize license management, improve the service level of license work, and promote the improvement of quality and efficiency of enterprises undertaking installation, repair, and testing. Formulate implementation opinions on further deepening the management of electric power business qualification licenses, and support private construction enterprises to actively participate in power grid construction. Study and promote the market-oriented reform of technical supervision in the power secondary system, and promote the opening of the technical supervision service market to private enterprises.

(6) Promoting the improvement of mechanisms for obtaining production factors. Formulate opinions on deepening and improving the level of electricity service to comprehensively build a modern electricity business environment, expand the scope of "zero-investment" services for low-voltage electricity handling to private electricity-using enterprises with 160 kilowatts and below, and further reduce electricity handling costs. Energy enterprises providing public services such as power grids and oil and gas pipelines should promptly disclose information such as relevant technical standards, specification requirements, transmission capacity, operation status, and price standards to provide open and transparent information for private enterprises' investment and operation decisions. Explore and broaden financing channels, promote the use of ultra-long-term special national debt funds to support equipment renewal and technological transformation in key areas of energy, continue to support private enterprises in the energy sector in issuing IPOs, refinancing, mergers and acquisitions, and bond financing, encourage financial institutions to improve green financial service capabilities, and develop more special credit products that meet the characteristics of private enterprises in the energy sector.

(7) Continuously regulating the energy market order. In-depth implementation of the Fair Competition Review Regulations, and improvement of the fair competition review system in the energy sector. Revise the Measures for the Supervision of Fair Access to Power Grids and the Measures for the Supervision of Fair Access to Oil and Gas Pipeline Facilities, and urge pipeline facility operating enterprises to open fairly and non-discriminatorily to qualified private enterprises and other business entities. Conduct supervision and rectification of behaviors that violate market rules, engage in unfair competition, or involve improper administrative intervention in accordance with the law, investigate and deal with behaviors that abuse administrative power to exclude or restrict competition in accordance with the law, strengthen supervision over power generation enterprises that use the advantage of "integration of generation and sales" to illegally seize market share, deepen the rectification of the "three-designated" problem in user power reception projects, and create a good environment for private enterprises and other business entities to participate in the market fairly.

III. Improving the level of energy government services

(8) Optimizing the energy investment approval process. Simplify the approval process for energy projects, and encourage localities to implement one-window acceptance and online parallel approval for energy projects involving approval by multiple departments. Provide "one-stop" services for wind power projects under the "Thousands of Towns and Villages Harnessing Wind" initiative based on actual conditions, and handle preliminary procedures uniformly for projects developed jointly in the same administrative village or adjacent villages. Improve the efficiency of approval or record-filing for distribution network projects, especially those with 10 kV and below.

(9) Effectively protecting the legitimate rights and interests of private enterprises. Improve the government-enterprise communication and consultation system in the energy sector, and smooth the channels for private enterprises to reflect problems and demands. Guide private enterprises to operate in accordance with the law and improve the mechanism for safeguarding the rights and interests of private enterprises. In-depth implementation of the benchmark system for administrative penalty discretion, considering the illegal situation and affordability of business entities, and determining the penalty limit in accordance with the principle of "punishment commensurate with the offense". Strictly regulate administrative inspections involving enterprises, disclose administrative inspection items and standards, standardize inspection procedures, limit inspection frequency, and minimize interference with enterprise production and operation activities. Strengthen supervision over enterprise-related charges in the energy sector and increase efforts to control illegal charges. Improve mechanisms such as credit evaluation and repair in the energy industry, standardize失信约束 measures, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of business entities.

(10) Supporting and guiding private enterprises to "go global" with high quality. Encourage private enterprises to participate in the construction of the "Belt and Road Initiative" with high quality, steadily carry out cooperation in green energy projects such as wind power, photovoltaic, hydrogen energy, and energy storage, and improve enterprises' international competitiveness. Utilize domestic and foreign think tank resources to publicize the energy policies of relevant countries to energy enterprises through various means, and provide assistance for private enterprises to expand overseas markets.

Local energy management departments should, in accordance with the requirements of this notice, combine local actual conditions, further refine measures, actively listen to the opinions of private enterprises, respond positively to enterprise concerns, and coordinate to solve difficulties in the development of private enterprises.


National Energy Administration

April 23, 2025

Source: National Energy Administration