China will preferentially develop a renewable energy micro-power grid in remote areas where there is neither an unreliable nor a non-existent grid network, according to guidelines released by the National Energy Administration last Wednesday. Micro-power grid, the opposite of large power stations, refers to electricity sources that are small, mass producible, quick to deploy, cost competitive and rapidly scalable. The micro-power grid is an innovative approach to energy saving and emission reduction, which plays an important role in further promoting thesustainable development of energy resources.

The guidelines listed specific requirements on the technological and operational management of micro-power. New energy micro-power grid should make use of a mix of various renewable sources such as wind, solar, natural gas and geothermal sources. The guidelines acknowledged recent developments in research on technology and application of new energy micro-power grid, adding that this gave them the ability to build test projects. Micro-power operation releases little carbon, and allows all kinds of groups including individuals to generate power, which could encourage competition in power generating industry.