Does the change in incentive policies promote renewable energy power generation in China?

To reduce the financial burden brought by the feed-in tariff (FIT) policy, China is shifting its renewable energy support policy to the renewable portfolio standard with tradable green certificates (RPS/TGC). Moreover, the two policies are being implemented in parallel in the transitional period. In this context, this study investigates the game between renewable energy power plants (REPPs) regarding electricity outputs and tradable green certificate (TGC) prices under different renewable energy support policies practiced in China. We focus on analyzing the impact of policy changes on the competing REPPs' decisions and the renewable electricity market with TGCs. The results show that implementing the RPS/TGC policy inhibits the development of renewable electricity unless the subscription of TGCs is promoted. Government subsidy arrears significantly affect electricity outputs and TGC subscriptions. The low subscription rate of TGCs is caused not by the subsidy-based TGC pricing mechanism but by government subsidies. This suggests that the government should implement the RPS/TGC policy, and demand-side power consumption responsibility weights should also be strengthened to promote TGC subscriptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]