生物质能迎来“政策大年” 42号令正式实施Biomass Energy Enters a ‘Big Policy Year’ as Decree No. 42 Takes Effect

[Green Fuel International Business Network] has learned that Decree No. 42, which has drawn much attention from the biomass energy industry, was officially implemented on August 2. The document clarifies the strategic positioning, phased goals and specific support policies of biomass energy in national renewable energy development, and has been dubbed by the industry a "big policy year" for biomass energy.

Decree No. 42 was jointly issued by the NDRC and three other departments, and its important innovation lies in including non-electric utilization of biomass in the accounting system for the minimum share of renewable energy consumption and the weighting of consumption responsibility for the first time. The measures divide the minimum renewable energy consumption share target into two categories - electricity consumption and non-electric consumption - with non-electric consumption explicitly covering non-electric utilization types such as renewable heating (and cooling), comprehensive utilization including renewable hydrogen, ammonia and methanol production, and biofuels. This means that non-electric utilization modes such as biomass heating, biofuels and bio-natural gas now have a clear "value measurement" channel for the first time.

At the same time, green consumption has been upgraded from an "industry advocacy" to an "annual mandatory assessment." If key energy-consuming industries fail to meet the minimum renewable energy consumption share target, provincial energy authorities together with relevant departments will urge rectification; those failing to complete it within the deadline will be summoned for talks, publicly notified and included in credit records in accordance with laws and regulations. For enterprises with biomass combined heat and power projects, the green value of heating is officially recognized and included in the assessment system for the first time.

Echoing Decree No. 42 is the 15th Five-Year Plan for Renewable Energy Development. The plan clearly proposes that biomass energy will break away from the traditional thinking of "power generation first," taking "transformation and upgrading of power generation and breakthroughs in non-electric utilization" as its core thread, building a diversified development system with multiple scenarios, categories and values, and proposes that by 2030 total renewable energy consumption will reach about 1.8 billion tonnes of standard coal. Policies also give clear support in feedstock security, electricity price subsidies and tax incentives, and incorporate the energy utilization of agricultural and forestry waste into the rural revitalization strategy framework, injecting strong momentum into industry development.

Looking at industry operating data, in the first half the country added 600,000 kW of biomass power generation capacity, with cumulative capacity reaching 47.91 million kW, up 2.6% year on year, and cumulative power generation of 115.8 billion kWh. Hithink RoyalFlush Finance analysis noted that driven by the "dual carbon" goals, biomass energy, as the only carbon-neutral energy variety, is seeing its strategic value re-recognized. With the intensive introduction of policies and the advancement of the 15th Five-Year Plan, the biomass energy industry will enter a new stage of large-scale, high-quality development, and project revenue models are expected to diversify from "single power generation" to "power + heat + green rights and interests."