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 generators¹ 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 favourable² tariff³ 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 grids⁴ 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 curtailment⁵ 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 earnings⁶. And they need the cash flow — net debt levels look scary at more than 5 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation⁷ 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 populous⁸ coastal⁹ 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。

1 generators   

n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司

参考例句：

• The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
• Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 favourable   

adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的

参考例句：

• The company will lend you money on very favourable terms.这家公司将以非常优惠的条件借钱给你。
• We found that most people are favourable to the idea.我们发现大多数人同意这个意见。

3 tariff   

n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表

参考例句：

• There is a very high tariff on jewelry.宝石类的关税率很高。
• The government is going to lower the tariff on importing cars.政府打算降低进口汽车的关税。

4 grids   

n.格子( grid的名词复数 )；地图上的坐标方格；（输电线路、天然气管道等的）系统网络；（汽车比赛）赛车起跑线

参考例句：

• Typical framed structures are beams, grids, plane and space frames or trusses. 典型构架结构为梁、格栅、平面的和空间的框架或桁架。 来自辞典例句
• The machines deliver trimmed grids for use or stock. 这种机器铸出修整过的板栅，以供使用或储存。 来自辞典例句

5 curtailment   

n.缩减，缩短

参考例句：

• The usage based allocation method and the curtailment based allocation method are discuss. 在责任分摊法中，阐述了使用程度分摊法和裁减量分摊法。 来自互联网
• In transaction curtailment study, different transaction curtailment models using different types of curtailment objectives. 在交易裁减的研究中，不同的交易裁减模型采用了不同类型的裁减目标。 来自互联网

6 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

7 depreciation   

n.价值低落，贬值，蔑视，贬低

参考例句：

• She can't bear the depreciation of the enemy.她受不了敌人的蹂躏。
• They wrote off 500 for depreciation of machinery.他们注销了500镑作为机器折旧费。

8 populous   

adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的

参考例句：

• London is the most populous area of Britain.伦敦是英国人口最稠密的地区。
• China is the most populous developing country in the world.中国是世界上人口最多的发展中国家。

9 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。