Introduction:Over the past 15 years, the Chinese government has implemented a series of power sector reforms that have greatly expanded the availability of electricity and improved the efficiency, reliability, and environmental performance of the sector. But significant challenges remain: rising costs, concerns about reliability and security, high rates of demand growth, and serious threats to the domestic environment and public health, as well as global climate. The Chinese government has set ambitious energy and environmental goals in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011–2015) and the new Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan (2013–2017). Addressing these challenges and meeting these goals will require policies that reshape the power sector. International experience with power sector policy, both successes and failures, is an important point of reference for China. This paper offers recommendations for China based on that international experience, expanding on RAP’s 2012 and 2011 papers on these issues.
