中国的风力发电厂问题难解

 China’s wind farms have long had a cloud hanging over them: not enough of their clean energy is consumed. That seems odd; a combination of rapid urbanisation and thousands of coal-fired power stations makes for severe pollution problems, which the state is desperate to reduce. A change in government regulations should improve matters for hard-pressed renewable generators 1 but it will not solve all their problems.

长期以来，中国的风力发电厂一直笼罩着阴云：它们生产的清洁能源消费不足。这似乎很奇怪；快速城市化加上成千上万的燃煤发电站，造成了严重的污染问题，中国政府正迫切希望减少污染。政府规定的变化应会改善压力巨大的可再生能源发电厂的境况，但不会解决它们的全部问题。
The National Energy Administration has done its bit for pollution reduction by encouraging renewable energy, mostly wind power, through favourable 2 tariff 3 structures. Last year, wind accounted for about 4 per cent of total generation and is due to more than double by 2020.
国家能源局(National Energy Administration)已通过优惠的电价结构鼓励可再生能源（主要是风电）发展，为减少污染做出自己的努力。去年，风电占全部发电量的4%左右，到2020年这个比例预计将上升逾一倍。
But the NEA faces two big challenges. One is obvious: not even the all-powerful Chinese Communist party can make the wind blow. The other is that while regional networks are required to accept power produced from wind farms, some regional grids 4 nevertheless refuse. In the north-western provinces of Xinjiang and Gansu, almost half of the wind power offered by generators was rejected (or “curtailed”) in the first three months of this year. Wind power specialists such as China Longyuan Power and Huaneng Renewables, which have borrowed heavily to invest in construction, complained bitterly. Their shares have trailed broader market indices for years.
但国家能源局面临两大挑战。第一个显而易见：即便是全能的中国共产党也无法让风吹起来。另一项挑战是，虽然地区电网被要求必须接受风电厂的供电，但一些地区的电网还是拒绝接受。在新疆和甘肃等西北省份，今年头3个月，几乎有一半的风力发电被拒绝（“弃风限电”）。中国龙源电力(China Longyuan Power)和华能新能源(Huaneng Renewables)等专门从事风电业务的企业叫苦连天，它们为风电建设借入了巨额资金。多年来，它们的股价表现一直落后于大盘指数。
After repeated warnings, the NEA this week required nine provinces with the highest curtailment 5 rates to use an average of a fifth more wind power than last year. That matters; these areas contain at least 60 per cent of the two companies’ wind capacity. Shares in all the listed wind farms bounced sharply yesterday. Reducing curtailments should improve their earnings 6. And they need the cash flow — net debt levels look scary at more than 5 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation 7 and amortisation, partly explaining very low valuations.
经过多次警告后，国家能源局本周要求弃风率最高的9个省份的风电使用量要比去年平均高出五分之一。这很重要；这些地区占这两家公司风电装机容量的至少60%。所有上市风电公司的股价昨日大幅反弹。降低弃风率应会提高这些公司的盈利。它们也需要现金流，其净债务水平看上去很可怕，是息税折旧及摊销前利润(Ebitda)的5倍多，这在一定程度上解释了它们的估值为何非常低。
But the curtailments occur for a reason. Coal-fired generators, too, do not run at full capacity because the economic slowdown has reduced demand for power. And exporting wind power to populous 8 coastal 9 regions, as Xinjiang requires, just means competing with the wind farm projects over there. China’s government cannot simply wave away its wind industry’s problems.
但弃风限电的出现是有原因的。燃煤发电厂也没有满负荷运转，因为经济放缓减少了电力需求。像新疆要求的那样将风电输出到人口稠密的沿海地区，仅仅意味着要与那里的风电项目竞争。中国政府无法轻易挥走风电行业的问题。