Due to energy wastage and lack of infrastructure, China recently imposed a ban on new investments hooking up on wind power energy grids. Large amounts of energy are wasted in several provinces.
The National Energy Administration placed a red alert, or the highest warning to five provinces. This means that all pending approvals and applications will be shelved.
The alert is placed on five provinces. These are Jilin and Heilongjiang in northeast China, along with Gansu, Ningxia and Xinjiang.
These provinces are the major sources for wind energy in the country. However, the grid connectivity to these provinces are limited.
As of May this year, there are already 136 gigawatts of energy being utilized. There is also a 32 percent increase in utilization.
However, there is a worsening problem of energy wastage. According to the NEA, 26 percent of energy was wasted in the first quarter of 2016. The biggest energy waste came from Jilin, Gansu and Xinjiang provinces. Ningxia and Heilongjiang lost about a third of their wind power.
Peng Pang, an analyst with the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association said, "We estimate that over the course of the first six months, 4.2 billion kilowatt hours of wind and solar power has been wasted, which is equivalent to New Zealand's electricity use in the whole year of 2015."
The NEA classified their alerts to three. These are green, orange and red. Provinces that consume 20 percent higher than the average consumption will be given orange or red alerts.
The reviews will be done annually. Offshore energy sources will not be included in the annual review.
An alternative source to using fossil fuel energy, wind energy is produced by the use of air to power turbines to produce energy. These turbines are seen in wind farms that are connected to electric power networks.