Bonus for Controlling Emissions @ Coal Power Plants in China

Getting China's cash-strapped coal-fired power industry to comply with tough emissions rules and tackle choking smog that has recently blanketed the capital and other major cities will take incentives as well as fines. 

In a change in tack after years of fining rule-breaking firms, the government said on Wednesday it will pay bonuses from Jan. 1 to those meeting coal efficiency standards. The measures reflect increasing pressure on the world's biggest consumer of energy as leaders meet in Paris to hammer out a global climate deal and a new push to encourage companies to invest in clean, efficient technology to curb air pollution. "It will help to cut coal use and emissions from the sector. And some outdated facilities will be phased out that will ease the power oversupply," said Lin Boqiang, energy researcher with Xiamen University.

Plants that open after Jan. 1 and meet the government's environmental requirements will get an 0.005 yuan per kilowatt hour on top of the basic grid tariff. Those already in operation will get an extra 0.01 yuan per kilowatt hour, which would equate to about 42 million yuan ($6.5 million) if all thermal power output last year had been produced at plants meeting the coal efficiency standards. The higher tariffs will take effect in January and last until the end of 2017, when the government will reassess the rate, the NDRC said.

Read more @ Reuters