[Reprint] National Energy Administration: Support private enterprises to invest in innovative technologies and models such as new energy storage, virtual power plants, charging infrastructure, and smart microgrids

On April 28, Xu Xin, deputy director of the Legal and Institutional Reform Department of the National Energy Administration, said at a press conference that the National Energy Administration, in light of the new situation and changes in energy development, has issued the "Notice of the National Energy Administration on Several Measures to Promote the Development of Private Economy in the Energy Sector."

In terms of supporting private enterprises to enhance their development momentum, we support investment in energy infrastructure, support private enterprises to participate in nuclear power, and invest in major energy projects such as hydropower, oil and gas storage facilities, oil and gas pipelines, and the "Shagohuang" base. Support the development of new energy formats and models，Support private enterprises to actively invest in innovative technologies and models such as new energy storage, virtual power plants, charging infrastructure, and smart microgrids.Encourage innovative development, support private enterprises to deeply participate in major scientific and technological innovations in the energy field, strengthen scientific research collaboration and sharing of results. Support transformation and upgrading, encourage private enterprises to accelerate digital transformation and intelligent upgrading, innovate "artificial intelligence +" application scenarios, and actively cultivate advanced technologies and business models for recycling energy equipment.

The following is the original text:

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

National Energy Law Reform [2025] No. 40

To the Energy Bureaus of all provinces (autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government), the Development and Reform Commissions of relevant provinces (autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government) and the 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 become bigger, better, and stronger in promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of energy and building a new energy system, the following measures are proposed.

1. Support private enterprises to enhance their development momentum

(I) Support investment in energy infrastructure. Support private enterprises to invest in nuclear power projects and establish a sound long-term working mechanism. Support private enterprises to invest in hydropower, oil and gas storage facilities, liquefied natural gas receiving stations and other infrastructure projects, and support private enterprises to participate in oil and gas pipeline trunk or branch line projects. Support private enterprises to participate in the investment and construction of the "Shagohuang" base, and encourage private enterprises to build projects such as solar thermal power generation, diversified utilization of biomass energy and renewable energy heating.

(II) Support 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 to support the healthy development of smart microgrids, and formulate policies to promote high-power charging and improve the quality of charging infrastructure operation services.Support private enterprises to actively invest in new energy technologies, new business forms and new models such as new energy storage, virtual power plants, charging infrastructure, and smart microgrids.

(III) Encourage innovation and development of the private economy. Actively support private enterprises to deeply participate in major scientific and technological innovation in the energy field, and encourage private technology leaders to participate in the research and formulation of major strategies, plans, standards and policies for the development of energy science and technology. Encourage national scientific and technological innovation platforms such as national laboratories to collaborate with private enterprises to achieve open sharing of results. Encourage private enterprises to participate in national science and technology projects in the energy field, guide private enterprises to collaborate with state-owned enterprises and other institutions to innovate, and carry out joint research on key projects. Support the "Shagohuang" base to independently apply a certain scale of cutting-edge technology photovoltaic components according to market needs, and help private enterprises innovate in technology.

(IV) Support 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 the grid-type technical transformation of wind farms and photovoltaic power stations, innovate "artificial intelligence +" application scenarios, and improve output prediction accuracy, operating efficiency and management level. Encourage private enterprises to actively cultivate advanced technologies and business models for the recycling of wind power and photovoltaic equipment to improve resource utilization efficiency.

II. Promoting Fair Market Participation by Private Enterprises

(V) Continue to improve the market access system. Promote the separation of oil and gas pipeline network transportation and sales, and guide private enterprises to enter the competitive links of the oil and gas market more conveniently. Revise the management measures for the license for installation (repair and testing) of power facilities, optimize the license management, improve the service level of license work, and promote the quality and efficiency of installation (repair and testing) enterprises. Formulate implementation opinions on further deepening the management of 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 of power secondary systems, and promote the opening of the technical supervision service market to private enterprises.

(VI) Promote the improvement of the mechanism for obtaining production factors. Formulate opinions on deepening and improving the level of power access to comprehensively create a modern business environment for electricity use, and expand the service targets of low-voltage electricity use to private power use enterprises with 160 kilowatts and below to further reduce the cost of electricity use. Energy enterprises that provide public services such as power grids, oil and gas pipelines, etc. should promptly disclose relevant technical standards, specification requirements, transmission capacity, operation status, price standards and other information to provide open and transparent information for private enterprises' investment and business decisions. Explore and expand financing channels, promote the use of ultra-long-term special treasury bond funds to support equipment updates and technological transformation in key energy fields, continue to support private enterprises in the energy field to issue and list, refinancing, mergers and acquisitions and restructuring, and bond financing, encourage financial institutions to improve their green financial service capabilities, and develop more special credit products that meet the characteristics of private enterprises in the energy field.

(VII) Continue to regulate the order of the energy market. Deeply implement the Fair Competition Review Regulations and improve the fair competition review system in the energy sector. Revise the Supervision Measures for the Fair Opening of Power Grids and the Supervision Measures for the Fair Opening of Oil and Gas Pipeline Network Facilities, and urge pipeline network facility operators to open up fairly and without discrimination to qualified private enterprises and other business entities. Supervise and rectify violations of market rules, unfair competition, improper administrative intervention and other behaviors in accordance with the law, investigate and punish the abuse of administrative power to exclude and restrict competition in accordance with the law, strengthen supervision of power generation companies' illegal use of the advantages of "integrated sales" to seize market share, deepen the rectification of the "three designated" problems of user power receiving projects, and create a good environment for private enterprises and other types of business entities to participate in the market fairly.

III. Improving the level of energy government services

(8) Optimize the energy investment approval process. Simplify the energy project approval process and encourage local governments to implement one-window acceptance and online parallel approval for energy projects involving multi-department approval. Provide "one-stop" services based on actual conditions for the wind power projects of the "Thousands of Townships and Tens of Thousands of Villages Harnessing the Wind" wind power project, and uniformly handle preliminary procedures for projects jointly developed in the same administrative village or neighboring villages. Improve the efficiency of approval or filing of distribution network projects, especially distribution network projects of 10 kV and below.

(IX) Effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of private enterprises. Improve the communication and consultation system between the government and enterprises in the energy sector, and open up channels for private enterprises to reflect problems and appeals. Guide private enterprises to operate in accordance with the law and improve the mechanism for protecting the rights and interests of private enterprises. Deeply implement the benchmark system for administrative penalty discretion, consider the illegal situation and affordability of the operating entity, and determine the penalty limit in accordance with the principle of "proportionate punishment". Strictly regulate administrative inspections involving enterprises, publicize administrative inspection matters and standards, standardize inspection procedures, limit the frequency of inspections, and minimize interference with the production and operation activities of enterprises. Strengthen the supervision of charges involving enterprises in the energy sector and increase the intensity of governance of illegal charges. Improve the credit evaluation and repair mechanisms of the energy industry, standardize the measures to constrain dishonesty, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of operating entities.

(10) Support and guide private enterprises to "go global" with high quality. Encourage private enterprises to participate in the construction of the "Belt and Road" with high quality, steadily carry out cooperation in green energy projects such as wind power, photovoltaics, hydrogen energy, and energy storage, and improve the international competitiveness of enterprises. Utilize domestic and foreign think tank resources, and publicize relevant national energy policies to energy companies through various means to help private enterprises expand overseas markets.

Energy management departments in all regions should, in accordance with the requirements of this notice and in light of local realities, further refine measures, proactively listen to the opinions of private enterprises, actively respond to the concerns of enterprises, and coordinate and promote the resolution of difficulties encountered by private enterprises in their development.

National Energy Administration

April 23, 2025

Source: Static Traffic Network